Snapshots: Huge Sydney Protest with Nikon F5

This is the first article introducing the new Snapshots category at PhotoThinking, which will based on experience of photography.  It will also incorporate some articles which were previously tagged as “Combinations”.  And while there has been articles like this before, categorising them under the Snapshots category will make it easier for readers to get to them when looking for more experience based articles.

Huge Sydney Protest with Nikon F5

I think anyone that has been reading on this site for a while now, knows that I like to try and photograph big public events.  In previous articles I have outlined how I photograph protests, even ones which have earned me a spot in a national museum years later.  So when I read in the news that there was going to be a massive protest in the Sydney streets, including crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I decided I needed to photograph it.   And photograph it on film.

Please keep in mind, this is not a political article.  Like everyone, I have my views and beliefs, but this is not the place I wish to share them, discuss them or debate them.  Any comments I receive which are political discussion, will be deleted without response.  This site is for photography, and photography only.

Big Protests in Sydney

Now, let’s discuss big protest marches in Sydney.  In recent history there was the Walk for Reconciliation in 2000, which also included a walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  On May 28 of that year, over 250,000 people marched over the bridge in solidarity for reconciliation and support for Indigenous Australians.  

Considered a landmark event, the Anti-Iraq War protest in February 2003 has been reported to have had 500,000 protesters participate on one of the days during that weekend.  This is part of the protests I covered back then and have since been donated to the Australia War Memorial, a national museum in Australia, at their request.

That brings us to the recent one, the March for Humanity, held on August 3 2025.  This march was for ending the conflict in Gaza, where police estimate 90,000 participants crossed the Harbour Bridge, while organisers report an estimate up to 300,000.  I suspect it was in the middle somewhere, but I am not a crowd expert.  This is the event I decided to photograph.

Camera Gear

This is a photography website, so we should talk about the gear I decided to take.  The weather early August 2025 in Sydney had been atrocious, at least by Sydney standard.  Even though it is in the middle of winter it is not common to have a full three weeks of constant hard rain and wind, but that is what we got.  On that particular day it was very overcast, had dull lighting, it was raining, and it was very windy.  To boot, it was cold (and for those in other places in the world, 14 degrees Celsius is cold here!).

So first of all, I put on a weather proof jacket, which has pockets to hold items as I photographed.  With that, I picked up my Wotoncraft Pilot 10L bag to put my camera into.  It is weather proof, light and holds a lot of gear, and is a sling bag, which means I can get to everything easily, while keeping an eye on my equipment. 

Did I mention it was wet?  The rain was constant, so I needed a camera that could handle a bit of abuse.  When I was doing some professional work, the Nikon F5 had always served me well, so it was a pretty easy choice.  I would have loved to have given this a go with a Leica rangefinder, but it was not practical in this weather, at least for me.  To be honest, the F5 is made for this type of environment.  Loaded up with eight AA batteries, it is not light, but it sure performs.

Next was deciding which lenses to take.  I did not want to be fiddling with changing lenses when the action was happening, so primes were not high on the list.  The Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S G lens is a wonderful lens and weather sealed, which makes it an ideal option for the closer up shots.  Second, the Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S is a great lens, though heavy, but fast for both aperture and its focus speed.  It also has the buttons on the lens itself which is a fast way to lock in focus.  Both have big hoods which in tight situations protect the lens, but also keep the rain off the front element.  

Probably worth mentioning my settings for the camera.  I use back button autofocus on cameras like the F5.  It means the camera will always fire when I hit the shutter and will not go looking to focus.  It also means I can work quickly with one of the five focus points, set what I want in focus, press the back button to lock in, and recompose in a really quick motion.  In conditions like today, and not being sport photography where it is fast, I have it set to aperture priority, so that I can make the more creative decisions.

Film choice I kept simple.  Ilford HP5 Plus.  With a ISO of 400, and fantastic latitude, it is a film I am happy to burn through an event like this.  

Finally, the good ole iPhone.  It is pretty important in something like this, where things can go in an unexpected direction very quickly, that I am able to call or communicate.  The authorities also send messages in situations where warranted, so it is important to be in touch.  For specifics, I have the iPhone 16 Pro.

Start of the march

In the morning I had to do a few things, so I always knew I would be arriving as the speeches were being made to bring up the energy of the crowd.  As I exited Wynyard station, in the heart of Sydney, on to York Street, it was like hitting a wall of people.  Already, there was not much room to move, but at least the rain had stopped for a few minutes.

I moved through the crowd, photographing the more interesting people, while trying to get to the front.  Fun fact, if you have a big black camera, people make way for you.  In general people were actually quite friendly and helped out where necessary.  I got to the stage, and then the heavy rain started.  It was interesting to see people first try and find cover, and when realising this was not possible just accept it.  I shot some further photos for about 45 minutes until they were ready to start the march across the Harbour Bridge.

Over the bridge

Once all the speeches were finished, the walk across onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge began.  It was very crowded, initially requiring small steps due to lack of space.  At this point a second helicopter joined the one already flying above.  Suddenly you could feel that it would not take a huge amount of effort for something to erupt. 

Where I could, I found some space at the side to photograph people.  Most protesters were happy to be photographed and kept calm.  With the shouting, the organisers whipping up excitement, the police presence and then the police helicopters above (a third joined, but suspect it was a media helicopter rather than police), it sure took an edgy feeling to it.

Luckily the protesters all remained calm and apart from one or two incidents, no one seemed to be there to cause trouble.

I photographed trying best I could, to capture that it was on this iconic bridge and to capture the passion within the people.

Over the bridge – again

When we crossed over to the North Sydney side of Sydney Harbour, the rain was still quite heavy, and I was expecting to head to the train station there.  The protest did have a final destination of the US Consulate, but I was pretty sure that would not go ahead due to the conditions and the size of the crowd.

What I did not expect was the police to ask the protesters to go back across the bridge the other way.  Because the crowd was so big, the North Sydney streets would not be able to be controlled.  The net effect of this though, is that at some point 45,000 people were heading one way, with another 45,000 the other.  This is taking the most conservative number.  Soon afterwards, text messages from the authorities started to come through advising people to this.  Then one of the police helicopters started announcing this over their speakers.  It became very surreal at this point.  Needless to say, I was stuck on the bridge within a crowd for almost an extra two hours, who were losing patience, unclear on what to do and a lot of noise around them.

On the way back, it gave me a chance to see some of the protesters standing in front of the big banner, and I was able to face into more of the crowd.  One man decided that this was all a ploy to disrupt the protest by the authorities, and got onto a higher part of the bridge and started yelling to the crowd to not listen.  The police calmly negotiated with him, I would think to avoid any sense of violence. 

Meanwhile through the whole day, the F5 and Nikkor lenses performed admirably.  No problem in the rain, and as much a pleasure to use as ever.  I did not really use the Nikkor 80-200mm, as everything was generally too close.  So the 24-70mm was the workhorse for the day.

The end

I finally got back to the city side of the bridge.  It was still very crowded, I eventually jumped a barrier to be able to get out.  I dried everything when I got home, and on the Monday took the film to my lab.  By Wednesday that week, I had four rolls of HP5 Plus which came out perfectly exposed, and in nearly every single case, sharp and in focus.

Covering these events is not for everyone, but in my mind, these events happen for a period during our lifetime.  They key is to take advantage and capture them for future generations to view, as did the anti-war protest for the Iraq war and are now stored in a national archive for the next couple of hundred years.  Doing on film back then was also good as the reason they wanted my pictures is that all the digital pictures of the era are nowhere to be found, at least the original files.  It won’t be the case now, we have come a long way, but you never know.

As I mentioned at the start, this is a totally non-political website, please keep it that way.

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