gilbertmusings:

rickkanelives:

snowce:

umanesimo:

The photo was taken during a Fire Escape Collaspe in Boston in 1975, by Stanley Forman. 19 year old Diana Bryant and her 2-year old goddaughter Tiare Jones died from this fall.

The picture was first published in the Boston Herald and then picked up and published in newspapers all over the world. There was much debate about showing such a horrific picture.

I was never bothered by the controversy. When you think about it, I don’t think it was that horrific. The woman at the time was not deceased; we didn’t show a dead person on the front page. She did die, which is a horrible thing. I didn’t think it was that bad, but then I am the photographer, so I’m biased.Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up.

My photograph prompted people to go out and check their fire escapes and ushered in a law that meant that the owner of the property is responsible for fire-escape safety. It was also used in many fire-safety pamphlets for many years.

Stanley Forman

via pigbird: world press photos 50th