After describing the photograph in AP’s “One Extraordinary Photo” series, Tehran-based photographer Vahid Salemi focused on what the image was meant to reveal about day-to-day reality during conflict. He said the picture shows elements of everyday life in Tehran that have been affected by the war, and he framed the black spots on clothespins as visible evidence of that toll on the environment as well as on civilians.
Salemi said he has previously documented the effects of war on civilian life, but he described this particular work as highlighting environmental impact—especially air pollution and contaminated rain. He said the black spots visible on clips in the photo were tied to those conditions, linking what is seen in the frame to what people in the city were experiencing outside it.
He added a time-and-light detail to help explain why the scene looked the way it did. Salemi said that on the day the image was taken, it felt as though “the sun rose later than usual,” and he attributed the delayed sunlight to heavy smoke from explosions combined with thick rain clouds that prevented sunlight from reaching homes until much later in the morning.
Salemi said he had photographed the explosion that caused the pollution the night before, and when he woke up he was struck by how unusually dark it still was. He described using the rooftop during periods of fighting to observe explosions and rising smoke, saying he regularly went up to watch and document what was happening from above.
In describing how he made the photograph, Salemi said he used a 16mm focal length and a 16–35mm lens with a Sony Alpha 1. He also gave the camera settings he used, saying he shot at f/5.6 with an exposure time of 1/1600.
Salemi said that during both the 12-day war in June 2025 and ongoing conflict, he spent time observing explosions from the rooftop. He said that on this occasion, he was able to notice the black marks visible on the subjects in the photo, connecting the visual details to the environmental conditions he had been tracking during the fighting.