The day of the Inauguration, all I saw from the mainstream media was a concentrated focus on the violence within the protests that day.

The protests I saw and photographed in the morning and towards the afternoon were vastly different. The DisruptJ20 group stated over and over that it was looking for nonviolent civil disobedience.

Later, I did witness people throwing rocks at the police, and did see reports that people had broken the windows of Bank of America. I won’t lie about that, or downplay it, but my job – as is the job of all newspeople – is to report everything. So, here is what I am reporting, simply because this is the majority of what I saw. Also, frankly, I am sure you’ve seen the image of the burning limo from TIME Lightbox more than once now. Yes. That did happen, and it was done by people calling themselves anarchists. I don’t know if they were affiliated with DisruptJ20.

Here, you will see protestors blocking off an entrance to an inaugural check point, at 10th Street & E Street, in front of the Hard Rock Cafe in Washington, District of Columbia. You will see a Trump supporter throwing himself against them, trying to get through. You will see police starting to ring protestors in, at a grassy space near L Street later in the day. But you will not see violence or threat from the protestors at the blockade point, or at the grassy space, because that is not what I witnessed, when I was photographing them.

(Note: I did want to photograph the conflict between protestors who were throwing rocks and the police, who were in riot gear, but I also needed to keep myself safe and functioning, since I was supposed to meet up with a reporter and a bus of Massachusetts women the following day for the Women’s March – which, of course, did not happen, as you will see from my post yesterday.)

I attended and photographed the Women’s March on Washington today in Washington, District of Columbia. The march was organised to protest President Donald Trump and his administration.

The turnout was staggering. I was trying to meet up with a reporter from The Patriot Ledger, to go with her to find a specific bus of women coming from Taunton, Massachusetts, but there were so many people, I could only make it to the intersection of 6th Street and Independence Avenue. And that was at 10 a.m.

The media reports the organisers estimated about 500,000 people attended, but I personally believe it was more. When I say the streets were jammed, I am not exaggerating. It took between 15 and 30 minutes to go 100 feet, and my mother, sister and I ended up walking for about 90 minutes to finally find a way back home. For reference, my sister lives on Virginia Avenue, up in the 20-block. We should only have had to walk 30 minutes, maximum, to make it home.

As a journalist, this event was one of the most significant I have covered to date, and I am thrilled to have gotten the opportunity. As a person who has watched their and their loved ones’ hard-won rights come once again under fire, it was exhilarating. I am more hopeful than I was 24 hours ago. And tomorrow, I will feel more hopeful still.

(Yes, I am posting these photos, before I post all the photos I made yesterday of the Inauguration Day protests, so stay tuned!)

This trip to Hobby Knoll was a bit briefer, since Andrea and Phil had to get down to Wareham – where I used to work for a paper; go figure, heh – and were in a bit of a rush. Still, they were hospitable and kind as always. Andrea even showed me some of her treasured knee-high socks!

Before Andrea got home from the feed store, though, I poked around a bit. The horses were curious, and everyone else thought I must have been there to feed them, because they were quite loud, when I approached. 

I decided to use my 14mm lens for everything, and showcase some of the landscape of the place. I have really come to love wide-angle photos, lately. I seem to go through these phases where I favour a particular lens over my other ones. Right now, it’s my 16-35. Before, it was my nifty 50, but I don’t think I have pulled that one out for several months.

In any case, I digress. Enjoy the photos!