Local Photog's Vigil Image Reverberates Across Grieving Nation

Cranston photojournalist Corey Welch was in Boston on Tuesday night and heard that a candlelight vigil on Boston Common was going to happen soon.

He started to walk along an open part of Boylston Street towards the common and happened upon people marching out of a church at the corner of Boylston and Arlington, candles in hand.

"Everyone had candles and police were blocking off the road and I walked down towards the public garden, following them, snapping pics as I was walking," Welch said in an interview.

In the heart of a city still reeling from the horror, when a peaceful celebration of freedom and human endurance turned into a battlefield just a day earlier, this scene on the common was the converse: a procession of peace, purpose, prayer. 

He followed and as they entered the common Welch was shocked to see how many people were already there.

Mourners lined up along the lagoon. This was not scripted. The candles flickered in the building breeze. It was quiet. Solidarity on a dark night.

"One woman happened to be about 20 feet away from me and she started to sing by herself," Welch said. "She starting singing 'This Little Light of Mine' when everyone started joining in almost one by one."

Their voices echoed back and forth across the park. 

Welch has a camera equipped to tweet pictures straight from the camera. He found a tree stump, climbed up and snapped this image. A few seconds later, he sent it out. A simple tweet, not unlike the many others he's sent out. He expected maybe a few retweets.

Seconds later the wind picked up. The candles flickered out. The crowd dispersed like contrails. 

Soon, Welch's tweet was retweeted. And retweeted. The notifications became too fast and furious to keep track of. Then Jim Roberts, Executive Editor at Reuters, reposted it on his page. Then national networks have reposted and retweeted again and again. ABC News has used it on-air and on other platforms.  By now, it has been shared countless times. But what is not so interesting about this photo, one of just many he's taken over the last few days hoping to document this moment in history, is not the number of retweets or how far the picture will go. 

It's the response from people, who said the image came to them at a time when they needed it. They cried. They felt a sense of hope. Solidarity during a dark time.

"A lot of people have just said thank you," Welch said. "Thank you for sharing this. We need stuff like this."

At a time when it seems everyone is sharing and recounting their tales and thoughts about the horror, Welch offered up this picture of the flicker of the human spirit, the fire of humanity that brightens up dark nights.

So that's why it has traveled so far, more so than any other picture Welch has snapped ever since he's been out photographing fires, accidents, crime scenes and everything else that comes along with the job of a freelance photojournalist.

Welch returned to Boston today after two days there documenting the reality of a city soldiering on. There are thousands of pictures that he said he still hasn't had the chance to go through. 

But in the end, when he looks back on this dark time, it could be this picture that lingers on, far beyond the tiny slot in his camera. A flickering light reminding him his job is just as much about triumph as it is tragedy.

Follow Corey Welch on Twitter: @CoreyWelch to see more of his work.

Here's a few of his favorite reposts and comments:

https://twitter.com/davelawler/status/324433543939891201

https://twitter.com/DangerousBlood/status/324371420417257472

https://twitter.com/laynat/status/324370434697072640

https://twitter.com/Pray4Baltimore/status/324369575963664386

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