It's being heralded as an iconic picture that captures the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement, but the photographer who took it almost missed the shot altogether.
Jonathan Bachman, a New Orleans-based photographer, was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday covering protests for the Reuters news agency.
Demonstrators had gathered outside the city's police department to protest against Tuesday's police killing of Alton Sterling.
Bachman, 31, told BuzzFeed News that between 100 and 200 protesters were blocking traffic on a highway when law enforcement officers dressed in full riot gear showed up and told the demonstrators to move to the sidewalk.
As some demonstrators moved and others yelled at officers, one woman stood silently on the roadway and resolutely refused to budge.
"I photographed someone arguing with an officer and then I looked over my shoulder and saw her there and she had every intention of not moving," he said. "She just stood there and made her stand. I was just happy to be able to capture something like that."
The woman was quickly detained, Bachman said, but when he checked his camera he knew he had captured a remarkable photo of her defiant act of peaceful civil disobedience.
"That was the first image I transferred [to Reuters] because I knew it was going to be an important photo," he said. "You can take images of plenty of people getting arrested, but I think this one speaks more to the movement and what the demonstrators are trying to accomplish here in Baton Rouge.
"She was there, she wasn't resisting, and she had every intention of not moving."
After it was published, the photo went viral on social media as news outlets across the world proclaimed it as iconic.
The woman was one of more than 100 people arrested during the demonstrations on Saturday, including a prominent Black Lives Matter leader, DeRay Mckesson.
Bachman does not know the woman's identity, but BuzzFeed News understands she is Ieshia Evans.
East Baton Rouge Sheriff show Evans, 35, was booked and released on Sunday.
Evans has not yet returned a request for comment from BuzzFeed News but wrote on her Facebook that she was seeking the opportunity to tell her story.
"I appreciate the well wishes and love, but this is the work of God," Evans wrote on Facebook. "I am a vessel! Glory to the most high! I'm glad I'm alive and safe. And that there were no casualties that I have witnessed first hand."
GIF of the protesting woman's arrest in Baton Rouge. Photographed by @mlbecherer https://t.co/NkP6UGZloG
Bachman told BuzzFeed News he has been "humbled" by the response to his photo.
"I'm just out here trying to tell the story of what's going on in Baton Rouge," he said, "and it's very humbling to be able to take a photo that really resonates with a lot of people."
Tasneem Nashrulla contributed to this story.