[OBSCURA] On Joel Goodman's photo of a New Year's Eve scene in Manchester

[rfmcdonald]

The Guardian reports on this wonderful, serendipitous photo.

A photograph of a Manchester street strewn with revellers is being lauded online for artfully capturing a uniquely British New Year’s Eve celebration.

The striking image, shot by freelance news photographer Joel Goodman, first appeared in a picture gallery on the Manchester Evening News website, and was brought to Twitter’s attention by BBC producer Roland Hughes.

The image, likened in its composition to a Renaissance masterpiece, depicts police wrestling a man in the foreground, crowds watching near a Greggs bakery in the back, and a gentleman in blue, reclining on the bitumen, reaching for a nearby beer.

Hughes’ post was retweeted more 25,000 times, his suggestion the photo looked “like a beautiful painting” inspiring some on Twitter to turn it into one.