Timing is everything. If you don’t...

Timing is everything. If you don’t know when to be there, the

photo often doesn’t matter. That was the case with the antiwar

protest Thursday at UC Irvine.

I was tipped off by a friend on campus that there would be a rally

at noon. But he didn’t know that the pre-rally would be the most

visual part of it.

With the noon time frame in mind, I casually strolled through the

student center en route to the protest. In the distance, I could see

white smoke -- or something -- billowing above the walkway ahead. I

knew this had to related to the rally, so I hustled over there.

I was too late to get a photo of students throwing cups of flour

to simulate bombs exploding during their mass casualty war scenario,

and I could only imagine the photo opportunities there were just

minutes before I arrived. But in the end, the visual of a mock

war-torn campus walkway littered with students pretending to be dead

made for a great picture.

-- Sean Hiller