Davis photog on how she got the pepper spray picture

Jim Romenesko contacted Jasna Hodzic after her photo of campus police Lt. John Pike using pepper spray on passive students hit the web. He asked if she would tell how she got the image; she tells a good, suspenseful story. It begins: "Something was wrong. I was kneeling inches away from seated protesters; I could feel their legs pushed up against my own. They seemed calm, smiling to each other and holding hands. Ten or fifteen feet behind them stood cops in riot gear, close to each other but as far away as possible from everyone else. They seemed tense, as if they did not know what to do; they seemed scared of the protesters... I’ve never felt so uneasy in my life." Then Lt. Pike came forward, shaking his can of pepper spray. Her piece is worth a click.

Add Romenesko: A piece at the Nieman Journalism Lab explains why Romenesko was right and Poynter was wrong.

Photo by Jasna Hodzic, The California Aggie