That Ohio protest photo looked like a zombie movie. Zombie movie directors think so, too. [View all]

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That Ohio protest photo looked like a zombie movie. Zombie movie directors think so, too.


The Columbus Dispatch photo of an anti-social-distancing protest went viral this week. (Joshua A. Bickel/AP)

By Maura Judkis
April 17, 2020 at 11:18 a.m. EDT

The insatiable flesh-hunger of zombies wasn’t exactly on photographer Joshua Bickel’s mind when he was covering an anti-social-distancing protest at the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday. But it was all that was on the, well, braaaaaains of people who saw Bickel’s work on social media, where the photo went viral for its parallels to classic zombie films.

The Columbus Dispatch photographer’s image is frightening and compelling. Approximately 100 protesters who were urging Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to end the state’s stay-at-home order and reopen businesses pressed up against the glass doors to the statehouse, chanting and banging windows.

One wears a Guy Fawkes mask. Two men wear Trump-branded baseball caps. Two women, the closest to the windows, shape their mouths into the same elongated howl as Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” American flags obscure some of the protesters in the back.

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Maura Judkis
Maura Judkis is a features reporter for The Washington Post. She is a 2018 James Beard Award winner. She joined The Post in 2011. Follow https://twitter.com/MauraJudkis

You’ve seen the photo of Ohio protesters. Here’s the story behind it.

By Michelle Everhart
The Columbus Dispatch
Posted Apr 16, 2020 at 10:15 AM

They are pressed up against the atrium windows of the Ohio Statehouse. Crowded together and yelling. Protesters demanding an end to the stay-at-home order in Ohio.

You’ve probably seen the above photo on social media sometime during the past couple of days. It’s gone viral as people debate stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Dispatch photographer Joshua Bickel took the photo that accompanied the story by Anna Staver and Cole Behrens. Bickel agreed to answer some questions about the photo as well as what it is like to be a photojournalist during this time. You can find some of his favorite photos that he’s taken above.

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