I chose a photograph taken in Tral, a village in Kashmir. It shows what remains of a home that was destroyed during a gun battle in 2019. What struck me about this photo was its overall background. Once can see the breadth of the destruction and havoc that happened from the conflict. I felt drawn to this photo because it clearly shows the stress of the situation. The photograph made me feel grateful for what I have right now.

 

The photographer depicts this one house, but one immediately wonders about how many other times this scene is also happening in the area, how many other homes and buildings have been destroyed. The smoke seen in the photo clearly shows that the photograph was taken either very recently after the gunbattle or perhaps even during the battle. It noticed how the smoke 

rises up from various angles and looks like it actually connects with the clouds. 

 

The next thing I noticed was that several men were in the middle of all the chaos. I didn't even notice all the different men at first, the one in the top right at first glance blends into the background. Two seem to be looking directly at the building. Could that be their house? One seems to be trying to salvage a piece of something. Another man looks off into the distance and seems to be surveying the wider area. Again I wonder about how bad the overall devastation is.

 

Light streams down at an angle and pierces through the smoke and dust. This adds a sense of movement to the photograph. I noticed that the left side of the photo has a lot more light than on the right, where it is cloudy and almost looks like it is later in the day. 

 

In terms of hunting for the photograph, the photographer, Dar Yasin would have taken a lot of personal risk to be in the conflict zone. However, he is no stranger to conflict and devastating events, having covered The Afghan War, and the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar. It was interesting to note that Mr Yasin originally studied computer science and technology, but he has risen to become an internationally known and highly regarded photographer. 

 

I would say this is a figure in a landscape photograph where the photographer has captured an extremely powerful event. The background is quite striking not only because of the devastation but also because of the use of light. Yasin seems to be standing to the left of the scene and capturing an unscripted moment where participants are in complete shock. It feels like it’s the very first moment they go back to see the house, maybe in the first few seconds before they can even be upset about it and are just baffled. Yasin clearly depicted a very powerful scene.