Picture of the week: Felix Russell-Saw
Felix Russell-Saw is a commercial and lifestyle photographer based in Bristol. The recent photograph of his friend Mano standing on the plinth of the fallen statue of slave trader Edward Colston is one of the most symbolic of the recent Black Lives Matter protests. He spoke to us about how it came about, and how to cope when a picture goes viral.
© Felix Russell-Saw. Shot during the Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol on 7th June 2020 using a Pentax 67 and Ilford Delta 400
Hi Felix - thanks for talking to us sheet at Contact Sheet. When I saw your photograph on Facebook it immediately struck me as one of the most iconic of the recent protests. Tell us how it came about?
Thank you, yes sure. On the day of the protest my friend Mano met me at my house and we walked down to College Green, which is where the protest was beginning. There were loads of people there, I think the council are reporting there were about 10,000. Everyone was wearing masks and trying to socially distance where possible. People were just sat listening to the speeches, and apart from the speakers you could hear a pin drop. The atmosphere there was something else. Once the speeches were over the crowd started to head down to another part of town where there were more speeches planned.
At this point I hadn't even got my camera out of my bag because there's been so much press surrounding white photographers taking advantage of the situation for personal gain, and the whole idea of the movement is for black people to have their voice and use that as their platform. So we kind of hung back and tagged along towards the end of the march.
“We were so engrossed in what was happening immediately around us we actually missed the statue itself coming down, even though both of us were just an arm’s length away. ”
About the halfway between the two areas where the protest was happening is where the statue of Colston was. As we were walking down we ended up right next to the statue, and somehow everything just started going crazy. People were cheering, screaming, yelling. So we were so engrossed in what was happening immediately around us we actually missed the statue itself coming down, even though both of us were just an arm’s length away.
Before I knew it, the statue wasn't there. It was on the ground two or three metres to the side. People were crowding around it holding their cameras in the air trying to get pictures. I had my Leica and one roll of film and I made a few photos. And Mano, who is also a photographer, he was on his digital taking photos, and then we moved on. About half an hour later we made our way to the next part of the protest, over at a place called Castle Park in Bristol, where everyone sat down again and there were some more speeches.
“There were still people everywhere and at this point Mano got very reserved. Then he literally said “hold my bag”, just chucked his bag at me, and he went and climbed up onto the plinth.”
By this time we’d been on the go for 4 or 5 hours and pretty tired, so we turned back and started walking back to my house. But we thought we’d check out where the statue was on the way. As we got closer we saw everyone had been placing their signs around it as a mark of respect, hundreds and hundreds of placards. Probably about it five to eight metres deep all around the plinth.
There were still people everywhere and at this point Mano got very reserved. Then he literally said “hold my bag”, just chucked his bag at me, and he went and climbed up onto the plinth. And I was like, “whoa, what's going on?” I took my Pentax 67 out of the bag and threw a roll of delta 400 in it. I'd been carrying it around all day. Anybody who knows that camera knows that it's an absolute weapon, and I've actually got a broken elbow and a broken rib at the moment!
“He’s a far, far braver guy than I will ever be. And it was the quickest I’ve shot a roll of 120 film, that’s for sure.”
So I loaded the camera really quickly and he just gave me a hug and climbed up that statue while I went around to the front. Just as I got there he dropped to one knee and put his fist in the air. Literally everyone just stopped. It was so busy but everyone just stopped and watched. He did that for probably about three, four seconds and then sat down and took it all in. I think he was pretty overwhelmed just by being up there.
And I just kind of sat on the floor taking a few pictures on the Pentax. He ended up making small speech and even thinking about it now, two weeks later, I get the chills because it was just so insane. He’s a far, far braver guy than I will ever be. And it was the quickest I've shot a roll of 120 film, that's for sure.
What an amazing moment. So you developed the film and shared the picture - what happened once you put it online?
So we got back to may house and I developed the film right away and scanned it in. I finished at 2am or something. The next morning I posted some of the pictures on Instagram and Facebook and almost immediately I knew something was happening. Within a few minutes that picture had been shared 20 times and by the end of the day was getting thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.
“You don’t need to feel guilty for not understanding. You just need to do something about it. ”
We really wanted to do something that harnessed the awareness the picture was generating, so we decided to offer prints for sale with the proceeds going to support SARI (Stand Against Racism and Inequality). I thought we’d maybe sell 10 or 20 prints and raise a hundred quid or something, but I ended up having to stop the sale after 48 hours when the number became overwhelming. It just went absolutely viral and it's not stopping. I'm still getting emails today saying “hi, is there a second print run going through”, and Mano has had the media trying to get hold of him left, right and centre.
So I'm just trying to divert any attention to ensure it’s going to a good cause. A lot of people are getting very social justice warrior about it, but you don't need to feel guilty for not understanding. You just need to do something about it.
