Image analysis.

The caption for this image tells us that the photographer is Michael Yon and this is an image from the Iraq war. The photograph is called 'In His Arms' and the caption says "A US Soldier comforts a child fatally wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad."

This image was taken as part of a war correspondancy for The Weekly Standard. This is more relevant as Yon was in the forces as a younger man. The image is of an American soldier holding a fatally wounded child. I feel the photographer took this image to show the real damage done by a war, the innocent lives that can be lost as well as the lives of soldiers.

We know this image was taken during the Iraq war, so we know that the photograph must have been taken in the last 8 years and we know from the caption that the image was taken in Baghdad. The image image is horizontal, cutting out all of the background and surroundings. I think the image was probably cropped because with recent wars, photographers have to stay a certain distance away. So I believe that a zoom lens was used and the image was probably cropped to show the intended subject. The angle is straight-on, so it looks like the photographer was on a similar level to the subject.

The lighting would be natural because of the environment and danger involved, you wouldnt really have the ability to carry lighting kits and huge cameras around a war zone. The picture is in colour. This means that we can see the blood on the child, the uniform, the soullessness of the environment. The entire image is focused, meaning we have to take in the whole image, the whole situation.

This image says to me that war is killing innocent people, innocent children, which is completely wrong. The image tells me that soldiers are not heartless human beings, but that they do care, and they're there because they need to be. This image couldnt possibly be set up. Its a spontaneous, realistic image. This image shows a lot of the photographers own views in regards to war. On the one hand, it gives him a job, but is it worth it when children who don't have anything to do with the war are losing their lives?