Photos

Well I guess everyone knows where this is....and the time......just after midnight with the New Year minutes old.........people began letting fireworks off in the crowded street (this area in front of me was almost impassable just a minute or two before the photo) - a giant roman candle was set off near me and the crowd scattered and then someone ran up and threw it into the thick of the crowd further up the Champs.....madness! I stood my ground ....and a second one was lit.......someone ran up and threw the first one back in my direction and threw the second one at this guy running away.......I suddenly realised my leg was engulfed in sparks and flame!! I kicked it away patted out the burning leg and carried on shooting......it all happened in a moment and I got this picture and a couple of others .....what surprised me above all was the stupidity and disregard of others through the action, the general amusement rather than censure of the crowd (although I think someone may have been injured as an ambulance arrived minutes later) and the inactivity of the hordes of police just down the road who displayed far less reticence in dispersing a group of young Turkish revellers a few minutes later.