Favorite Image Taken by Another Photographer Assignment

I know my mind is blown by a lot of images. Usually they pertain to animals and nature. This time around when I was scrolling through my Instagram feed, I stumbled upon this photo from Juan Barreto (@jbarreto1974) while out at a riot in Venezuela back in May. I think this photo blows me away because it’s something happening in real time to a real person and it’s such an emotion inducing image. The image holds power. I can’t really explain what power it holds, but it has it and I feel it every time I look at the image.

I think maybe part of the reason I’m drawn to it so much is the timing. The man had just caught fire and you can see him reaching, you can see and feel the emotions in just that one timeframe. You see the flames at the fullest and you see the motion. I think this photographer did get that “Decisive moment”, with his focus being on the man and his reaction and what he’s doing as he catches fire. It’s like that “omg I can’t believe this just happened” kind of moment.

When it comes to lighting, there’s a lot of natural side lighting coming from the right. In my personal opinion I think the lighting adds a lot to this photo. It kind of brings a contrast from the smoke and everything on fire on the left.

I personally don’t think I can recreate this photo on a normal day. If I were to have gone to a protest gone wrong or a riot or something, I may have been able to catch a similar moment with the tear gas and the rubber bullets, but thankfully that’s not something that has to happen a lot. But to answer the question, no I don’t think I can really recreate something like this in the area.

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Nicole Drake

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