On September 30, Accra Shepp, a New York-based fine art photographer, began making portraits of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Liberty Square with his antique wooden large format camera. Often Accra was photographed right back by the protesters, who were intrigued by his six-foot-seven stature and the slow methodical process of making images with such a large antique camera. During the several-minute process of making each image on an individually loaded piece of 4x5-inch film, Accra came to know all of his subjects personally and learned about what drove them to sleep in a park to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

"The diversity of the participants and the range of their activities was so great that I felt it important to be able to consider each protester as an individual," he said. "Each protester had come to Zuccotti Park as an individual, not as a faceless member of a cause. And, as I wanted to be able to see each of them as clearly as possible, I knew that I had to gather as much information as I could. This meant using a large format camera. This is not just a traditional film camera, but a film camera that uses individual sheets as opposed to rolls."

Accra Shepp has exhibited in the United States and abroad. His work is represented in such collections as the Museum of Modern Art, The Chicago Art Institute and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His project “Occupying Wall Street” is on display at the Steven Kasher Gallery, and was also seen in Brussels at the Royal Library of Belgium.

Photography by Accra Shepp