The Syrian conflict has been an ongoing civil war between the Assad regime, rebel fighters, Kurdish fighters, and ISIS, that has been raging since early 2011.  The fighting started because of tensions caused by the Arab Spring, and the conflicts that followed only escalated the situation into an all-out civil war.  The dictatorial regime headed by Assad is doing everything it can to stay in power, even if that means killing its own citizens.  The violence that the fighting has caused has not gotten any better, and that even leads to children such as Omran Daqneesh being injured.  Figure 1 shows Omran sitting in the back of an ambulance, barefoot, and covered in dust and blood. (Rslan)  After being pulled from a damaged building he was placed in the ambulance to be taken away and cared for. Pictures like the one of Omran that become viral due to their subject, color, and view are vital to exposing the atrocities that are happening in Syria and generating recognition of the issue on an international level, so that genuine change can be made.  

The first thing that a viewer would notice about the picture is the boy’s age.  The boy in the ambulance is five years old.  Outside the ambulance are multiple cameramen and photographers documenting the damage from the government attack, but Rslan was able to realize the importance of a little boy injured by the violence caused by the civil war.  Even though other people were pulled out of the building, the Rslan chose this boy as the most important subject to photograph, since the reaction to seeing his situation would be a mixture of sadness and anger.  Furthermore, the article that the picture is included in is titled, This is Aleppo in Five Devastating Photos, where three of the photos in the article include a child due to the emotional reaction that readers are anticipated to have.  Rslan also recognized the importance of the setting that his subject was in.  Omran was pulled from the building and carried over to the ambulance, and Rslan could have photographed him then.  Instead, he waited until the boy had been placed in the ambulance for the perfect combination of subject and setting.  Because of this, the image of Omran went viral on twitter and was compared to the photo of the young Syrian boy who had been found washed up dead on the beach of Turkey.  The reaction in the media to both the story about the drowned Syrian boy and Omran Daqneesh caused a spotlight to be cast on the issue of Syrian migrants and the dangers they face either when leaving the country through the Mediterranean Sea or staying put and dealing with the consequences of the conflict.  

The view in combination with its subject causes even more of an emotional response for the viewer.  Not only is the picture of a little boy being hurt by the war, but it is a picture that shows the viewer the gruesome details of the injuries that the boy has sustained and uses the medium shot to accomplish this.  It allows the Omran’s face, including the blood and the injury to his eye to easily be seen.  The boy is shown in full length, and is the only subject of the picture, allowing for a very intimate feel.  Since the subject is so young and small, the shot could also be interpreted as a close up.   The use of a medium to close shot of a young boy after he has been the victim of such trauma was done purposefully by Rslan.  You can see that Omran is in shock, not crying and looking around aimlessly.  He is not aware of the people outside the ambulance recording and taking pictures of him.  The gravity of the situation probably has not hit him, so he doesn’t know how to even react.  The response that the photographer hopes to elicit from the reader is of disbelief and horror that something so devastating could happen to an innocent child.

The view causes only a limited number of colors to be present in the picture.  The contrast between the colors that make up the boy and the ambulance allow two colors and two harsh meanings to conflict with each other.  There are the bright orange colors that make up the ambulance and the mixed array of darker colors that make up the boy.  The orange of the ambulance symbolizes the danger that the Syrian people face in this conflict, while also momentary safety since he will be taken to a hospital.  The orange also marks the danger that he is still in because of the fact that he lives in a war torn country.  The boy’s disheveled brown hair matches his dirty t-shirt and shorts, while the dark red blood on his face matches the many bruises and marks on his arms and legs.  The light brown colors of dirt and dust that cover Omran show the turmoil that he and the Syrian people are facing.  The dust that covers him could be seen as the conflict that they have to deal with being forgotten and left alone, and that it has become covered in a layer of dust, almost as if it is no longer important to the rest of the world.  The blood that runs down the side of his face shows the pain that the war causes for the Syrian people, almost as if the country itself is bleeding.  In the news video that showed Omran in the ambulance, he rubs at his eye with his hand, looks at his bloody hand, and then proceeds to wipe it on the seat of the ambulance.  This action can be interpreted as the desire for the Syrian people to rid themselves of the bloodshed and the pain that the civil war is causing them.  The symbolism of the colors in the photo speak about the war in their own manner, and allow a single picture of a young boy to tell much better story.

The photographer’s use of a little boy being harmed by a civil war helps to show the full effects of the conflict, but also is a strategic move.  By doing this, the photographer has allowed for more international coverage once again on this ongoing struggle that the Syrian people still face, and that so many people forget is still happening.  The symbolism that the picture displays and its use of view and color allow for a picture to go viral.  The fact that the subject is a child only helps to contribute to its influence as a viral story.  People who view the picture of Omran Daqneesh will have the emotional response that the photographer wants them to have and they will channel that response through social media, in hopes for a solution to the conflict. 
