This Photographer Took An Iconic Picture Of A Black Lives Matter Protester

It's being hailed as an iconic picture that captures the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement, but the photographer who took it almost missed the shot altogether.

Jonathan Bachman / Reuters

Jonathan Bachman, a New Orleans-based photographer, was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday covering protests for the Reuters news agency.

Demonstrators had gathered outside the city's police department to protest against Tuesday's police killing of Alton Sterling.

Bachman, 31, told BuzzFeed News that between 100-200 protesters were blocking traffic on a highway when law enforcement officers dressed in full riot gear showed up and told the demonstrators to move to the sidewalk.

As some demonstrators moved and others yelled at officers, one woman stood silently on the roadway and resolutely refused to budge.

"I photographed someone arguing with an officer and then I looked over my shoulder and saw her there and she had every intention of not moving," he said. "She just stood there and made her stand. I was just happy to be able to capture something like that."

The woman was quickly detained, Bachman said, but when he checked his camera he knew had captured a remarkable photo of her defiant act of peaceful civil disobedience.

"That was the first image I transferred [to Reuters] because I knew it was going to be an important photo," he said. "You can take images of plenty of people getting arrested, but I think this one speaks more to the movement and what the demonstrators are trying to accomplish here in Baton Rouge."

"She was there, she wasn't resisting, and she had every intention of not moving."

After it was published, the photo soon went viral on social media as news outlets across the world proclaimed it as iconic.

The woman was one of more than 100 people arrested during the demonstrations on Saturday, including a prominent Black Lives Matter leader, DeRay Mckesson.

Bachman does not know the woman's identity, but New York Daily News reporter Shaun King says he spoke with one of the woman's friends who said she was still in jail on Sunday afternoon.

Bachman told BuzzFeed News he has been "humbled" by the response to his photo.

"I'm just out here trying to tell the story of what's going on in Baton Rouge," he said, "and it's very humbling to be able to take a photo that really resonates with a lot of people."

Jonathan Bachman / Reuters

from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/29rrPdI