“A view of anything”: Photographing the insurrection – Columbia Journalism Review

The crowd seemed ready for a photo opportunity; democracy was under siege by a spectacle of costumes, body paint, and an unknown number of weapons. Some of the insurrectionists wore maga hats or camo-gear; they brandished flags for Trump and for the Confederacy; few wore masks. Williams headed out to find a good vantage point and saw people with bleary eyes—the rioters and the police had exchanged pepper spray, he later learned—and bloodstained faces. He captured some images of rioters shoving their way through a wall of police. Soon, an officer escorted Williams and a few other photographers to the third-floor gallery of the House chamber, then told them to lie low. He clenched his equipment. “I was trying to quickly and surreptitiously take pictures the whole time,” he said. “We were like, Holy shit.” A throng had entered the Capitol.