Set Fire to the Rain

While it’s not actual rain like Adele would have done, it has become possible to set fire to water in some Pennsylvanian areas. The picture where this is proven to exist was photographed by Scott Goldsmith – who is an international photographer and with People, National Geographic and LIFE featured in his clientele. The photo was taken in June, 2012 in Pennsylvania on the property of a resident named David Headly. It is part of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project.

The first thought was, “did they photo shop some of these pictures?” It was something that people don’t normally see in their everyday lives. Well, everything in the photo could be seen any day, but not in the way the picture had them together. Fire, water, plant life, a human arm and a fire starter for a grill are all present in the photo. The focus of the photo, is the fire starter starting a fire, with the water on the ground. The back has scenery that’s partially blurred, but unmistakably outdoors where water flows. The more clear and defined the different section, the more important Goldsmith must have thought that part of the image to be.

Photo by Goldsmith

With that being said, the first thing to stand out in the photo is the fire in the middle of the water and mud. The bright yellow flame automatically stands out with the dark brown water and mud in the background. The next thing to be noticed is that, there are puddles underneath the lighter. That’s a disruption that looks like it shouldn’t belong in the scene, but must be highly important to the message the photo is supposed to deliver.  Behind the fire are plants and mud, all made blurry. By blurring the background, it makes the already dark green and brown to look darker, almost as if the colors will soon fade together. The images in the picture are unbalanced by what is blurry, and what is clear. 

Once I realized what I was looking at, it made me think about a presentation I once saw in a summer program. It was about the quality of water in the world. The water quality had gotten so bad because so many chemicals had gotten into it. The photo is really about the same thing. How the water quality is being affected by the different things we do as humans, to get the natural resources that are buried deep into the earth. The message of the photo is the same as the message of that summer presentation I had, which is, we’re destroying the main resource on this earth that’s keeping us alive. The purpose of the photo, I believe, is to show that water, which we use to put out flames, has now been so chemically induced that, it instead helps to start and spread flames. 

The photo has an overall message, to me, bigger than out drinking water being chemically disturbed. The larger message is, we keep plunging into the earth, to dig up these resources using various tools and because a lot of money is involved, companies are unwilling to stop as greed has certainly taken the priority for them. I believe the piece is successful in conveying that overall message to someone that is educated about the topic of natural resources and companies’ greed. However, to the common person, they see that something bad has happened to the water that allows it to be lit on fire. Because they should still understand that, I’d say the photographer did a good job with the picture. They would have to notice the focus is entirely on the fire from the water, and not the grass behind. The focus and blurring is what really controls the message of the picture and something I would definitely consider as well. 
The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project