A close-up view of law enforcement officers in full riot gear, including helmets with face shields and "Police" vests, standing in a line during an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis in January 2026. The scene shows the tense atmosphere at the Whipple Federal Building following a fatal ICE shooting — Credit: Dave Decker / via Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.

There were hundreds of headlines about recent state-sponsored violence in Minneapolis—but Dave Decker wants you to see it for yourself.

The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts hosts its March member spotlight for the documentary photographer and photojournalist on Tuesday, March 31.

Decker’s seven-photo series features images the 52-year-old captured during the recent Minneapolis protests against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

And Decker—whose coverage ended up in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times—isn’t a stranger to police taking action when people gather to protest.

Miles away last November, he was one of more than 30 people arrested outside an ICE detention center in Miami while covering a Sunshine Movement protest for three outlets, including Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

Decker told CL that he witnessed state-sponsored violence during the Minneapolis protests, and he didn’t just want to tell that story to viewers—he wanted his photos to speak for him.

Photography, he said, gives journalists a chance to capture a single moment, but there’s a responsibility that comes with that ability, too.

“It’s being able to lay into a frame and just know that that fraction, like, one-four-thousandths of a second has been frozen in time,” Decker said, noting that sometimes what ends up on the screen isn’t exactly what was happening.

“We can shoot eight frames in a second, and somebody could be speaking in a soft manner, but the way they move their mouth it may look like rage,” he said, “So that’s where, as a photojournalist, ethically, we have to choose [the right photo] for the vibe.”

Decker—a lifelong lover of journalism who took writing classes at Santa Fe College—started publishing photos around 2019 as a concert photographer. He also does portrait work, corporate gigs, and political photography.

“I feel like the future is going to be fruitful and full of abundance, but I have a responsibility that I’ve imposed on myself to do the best, to show what’s going on outside of my life,” Decker said. “And to do that, I need to listen to everybody around me and do my best to document things that happen around us and our community.”

Admission is $12 for the opening of Dave Decker’s new exhibition at Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Ybor City happening Tuesday, March 31.

A FMoPA rep told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the show will be up throughout April.

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