State College didn't hesitate for one moment to take to the streets to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden, and I was able to capture it a month ago. Within minutes of the confirmation from our president that Bin Laden was dead, I was getting phone calls and texts telling me to get to Beaver Canyon. Luckily, I live about four blocks away and own a pair of running shoes. I dropped my STAT 200 notes (I had a final the next day), grabbed my camera, cradled it for dear life, and took off sprinting. I arrived as people were still gathering in a large crowd that settled right between the Alexander Court and Cedarbrook residences, in the heart of the infamous 'Beaver Canyon,' where my peers are always rioting or celebrating something. People were screaming, chanting, carrying flags, blasting USA themed music, singing, crowd surfing, throwing toilet paper, etc., to show their excitement over this particular death. Many fingers have pointed this death as an answer for our generation. In a time of so many question marks for my peers about evil and the world that we live in, this was finally a period (or at least an ellipses) on an era of a certain kind of evil. Here are some of the photos that didn't make the cut from our website (we were editing at four in the morning during finals week, I only threw a few up there) showing the true passion of my fellow peers at Penn State. Mostly all of these images are the unedited raw images (shot with my D80 in the black of night, until I found a friend with a working flash that I could borrow), so coloring and direct flash is a little harsh, but I feel like the message is more important then a few yellow photos.
This guy climbed a light post. Here it is close up, and now a wider shot:
Group of students chanting
It was finals week, and caught up in the moment, it seemed many students felt it was more important to rip up their textbooks and let the pages fly out the windows as opposed to study them.
A student crowdsurfs...
...and so does Captain America.
Underwear guy gets a lift.
Crazy in the Canyon.
The crowd surfing continues.
A fire breaks out when someone lights a chair on fire and people start jumping over it...
The cops then show up, resulting in my personal favorite picture:
A girl attempts to move her car in the middle of a crazy crowd.
The cops line up along Beaver Avenue to monitor the crowd from afar.
And they literally look on as the crowd winds down for the night.
Also filmed this video (thank you iPhone), which seems to be the only alcohol-fueled part of the celebration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6zq8XyoWok&feature=player_embedded
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