Description: A very overexposed image of a girl staring open-mouthed into a bright, cloudy, night sky, mid-flash as it is lit up by a meteor.
Still image taken from this IG video: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7JcDGXtORH/
Longer, unedited version with original audio: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7LrNlCNOmR/
She just happened to catch this meteor and her own reaction to it, entirely by accident. Absolutely watch the video, the shadows playing through the clouds as the meteor passes through the frame are stunning, but the most remarkable thing to me is this moment where laughing with her friends is interrupted and she doesn't yet know where to look. It's such a universal reaction and really special to see. This image is taken as one of the very bright flashes is blowing out the camera. Some frames are almost entirely white, others look much clearer. I chose a frame to make the subject legible but also give a sense of how overwhelmingly bright the flashes really were.
I don't think she understood what she was looking at at this point in the video either. That's what I find so amazing about this video, the way some events like this can trigger people's instinct to pay attention. It only lasted moments but because she looked for it immediately she saw something phenomenal that she'll remember for the rest of her life. I mean that's true of all the kids there but her reaction was captured.
Maybe this sounds obvious to some people but it gives me chills.