Heroic Moment In Central Park

An Associated Press photographer took this very unusual photo yesterday, after an 18 year-old visitor to NYC lost part of his foot after stepping on what the cops sort of concluded was an abandoned homemade firework.

Poor kid. But what a dramatic scene: it almost seemed staged in this image, the lush, deep, green forest as background, in the foreground both as barrier and terrace, the familiar granite rocks of Central Park, the dark blue uniforms, with bright blue stripes on their pants... how carefully has the artist concealed the victim's face and upper body!... The splashes of bright reds and oranges and the various poses of the EMT guys make it all seem staged and lit. Or, to quote Robert Browning! ~

"Paint must never hope to reproduce the faint 
Half-flush that dies along her throat"!