On October 10th, 2011, the first “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration was held in front of the Oakland City Hall, the start of a protest encampment that lasted for exactly five weeks. I photographed it almost daily during its short, turbulent, but politically significant existence.

These photographs are a personal look at the people, their politics, their activities and the many messages they promoted in their rallies, their slogans and their signs. They were sensitive to being photographed - something I came to think of more as a shared construct used in defining their group and its objectives than any particular individual bias - but I did back off in ways I might not otherwise have done in the past.

Street photographers are always aware of potential reactions when they're discovered photographing people in public, it's a liability of the craft. Otherwise, that concession aside, I've included the images that struck me during those five most interesting weeks in front of the Oakland City Hall.