CARABALLEDA, Venezuela (AP) — Ariana Cubillos is a Colombian photojournalist who has worked with The Associated Press since 2004. She has been based in Caracas, Venezuela, since 2009, covering social unrest, humanitarian crises and breaking news. Before that, she spent five years based in Haiti covering the news there.
Here’s what she had to say about this extraordinary photo.
Why this photo?
I took this photo while covering families carrying out their own search for their loved ones in the rubble, three weeks after the earthquake. While I was focusing on one family, I saw Carolina Munoz in the distance. I didn’t know her then; I saw her looking up at the sky and praying in a moment of desperation.
I decided to take the photo because I saw that this moment reflected the anguish and helplessness of many families experiencing the same thing, searching through 12 collapsed floors of the apartment building where their relatives lived. Being able to find and recover their bodies so they wouldn’t be left there and could finally rest in peace was what everyone expressed to me. I felt sadness for her, for everyone; I could feel their pain.
How I made this photo
I was at the top of the collapsed OPPPE 27 tower in Caraballeda, La Guaira. I saw Munoz in the distance and used my 70-200mm lens. It was a very quick moment; I couldn’t move easily because there were many deep holes already dug in the rubble.
There were also cables, ropes and pieces of cloth used to provide shade from the sun, so it was difficult to get a clear shot. I crouched down a bit to keep the two cables that were in front of her from covering her face. She was still praying and maintaining her balance; I kept trying to prevent those two cables from crossing her face.
I managed to get a few clear photos before she finished praying and went back to where the search was continuing. After the photo, I walked over and spoke with her. That’s when I learned that she was looking for the body of her son, Carlos Muñoz, and that she wouldn’t leave until she found him.
Why this photo works
For me, this photo works because the moment when Munoz was praying, with her hands and face to the sky, reflects the helplessness one feels in the face of the sheer number of fatalities and the collapse of such large buildings where many families lived.
It is a pain that words can’t explain, shared by all the families who lost their loved ones, but this image, even if it perhaps can’t fully capture the pain they are going through, is a moving one for me.
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