Memorial Cemetery

[Karm Redland]

I came across this Memorial Cemetery (for people who served in the US military) and decided to stop and pay my respects. Looking at the headstones at a certain angle I could see that they were arranged in military like formations. I also thought the clouds complemented this perspective. This is what I tried to capture in my picture.



Comments welcomed.

karm

[Plumcrak]

And you captured it well. Nice job.

[Wavelength]

You chose a great angle for that

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Jon.

karm

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Wavelength.

karm

[Digital]

Very nice capture Karm.


Bruce

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Digital.

Karm

[Andrew1]

Thanks Karm. Many people forget the about the turmoil in the world today when they are not directly involved. We become numb to what is going on and perhaps may think these scenes are reminiscent of WWI or WWII. The dates on these markers are less than a year old. Lest we forget.

[Brownbear]

Amazing image. I adore your compositions and the DOF and sharpness you always manage to achieve.

[rpcrowe]

Stirring photograph. I like it a bit better with less sky or even cropped just below the line of trees and shrubs so that the stones seemingly carry on into infinity...

According to the dates of interment and areas of service; most of these persons appear to have died after their service in a combat area. However, I wonder about the two different type crosses on these stones and the other design which looks like a sheaf of leaves. I would guess that the two crosses might signify Protestant and Roman Catholic beliefs but, I am not sure what the leaves signify. I do like the personalization of the stones. Most federal military cemetery stones are very impersonal...

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Richard. I'm going to try your idea about where to crop this image. I don't think they were leaves. I believe it was an Eagle. I don't know what it represents.

Karm

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Christina. Appreciate your comment.

karm

[Karm Redland]

Hi Andrew. I'm not a "rah rah" type but as I walked down the rows of these headstones and read their names and did quick calculations of their age I was overwhelmed by two strong emotional feelings I have rarely felt: stillness as an emotional state and a feeling of being deeply alone. It was impossible for me to translate what I felt into an image -- so I did the shot I did. Maybe on another day I'll try to translate the feelings I had into an image.

This cemetery had people who both served in the military and died naturally and people who died while in the military (I think?).

Karm

[Donald]

I think Richrad has made very good suggestions re the crop. But, of course, it had to be good to start with in order to make it better and, I think, this is wonderfully composed and constructed image.

The only other suggestion I'd make is to consider a conversion to B & W.

[Karm Redland]

Hi Donald (and Richard), after Richard suggested his crop I immediately tried it. It did make the headstones pop. However, it reduced the sense that these headstones are in formation. Interesting effect. Given that I like the sense of formations in this image I didn't pursue Richard's suggestion further.

I'll try your suggestion about converting it to BW.

Karm

[Andrew1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...es_and_markers

[Karm Redland]

Thanks Andrew. Pretty amazing list.

karm

[Karm Redland]

Donald suggested I try a BW version of this image. My struggle with BW is that I always see too many options. Here's one I selected.



Richard suggested that I crop part of the sky. When I first attempted to do this it seemed to me to diminish the sense of formations that headstones make. Now I'm not that sure. Here's a BW with a cropped sky.



Karm

[Brownbear]

I prefer the colour version because you captured the colours so beautifully (but the B&W is nice) I do like the 2nd crop.

[Donald]

I think the sky becomes much more a part of the image in the B & W. It adds mode and solemnity to the scene. I think Richard was rigth for the colour version, but I prefer the original format for the B & W?

And do I think the B & W makes a stronger image? Definitely. But, it's not my picture.