See you after the war mum

[RichB]

Yesterday I said goodbye to my brother who is flying out to Afghanistan. I took this picture as he left of him waving goodbye to our mother.

[Donald]

Always a challenging time for family, especially mums.

My secretary's husband has just come back after a tour (he's in the RAF).

[carregwen]

Rich

I'm only trying to help you here - I saw that you had little response to this post.

You will get more response from posted images if you give a little bit more info about why it's posted. If it's just something that you want to share with others then the best thing is to say just that. That way no one will start commenting on the shot, but might, as Donald has, sympathize with the subject matter. That's fine. On the other hand, if you do want comment about the shot from other members, then just ask for it.

[rpcrowe]

As a retired warrior of several wars ago (U.S. Navy Combat Cameraman) I can relate to the dynamics of this image... I would really like to see this as part of a short photo essay surrounding the young man's departure for the combat zone. I think that it would be a great finale to that photo-journalistic approach!

[RichB]

Thanks, I have a few pictures, Richard, but obviously it wasn't the focus of the day. It was a fairly emotional affair.

What you say makes Rob, I'd like comments and critique about it. Obviously in the sense that it isn't really a shot that could be prepared for very much or reshot so I guess there's kind of limited ways to be constructive. I'm certainly interested on how to make that shot as powerful as possible, given the subject matter. I think the black and white helps, not that its a natural b&w image, but I'd love to hear post processing suggestions.

[carregwen]

Thanks, I have a few pictures, Richard, but obviously it wasn't the focus of the day. It was a fairly emotional affair.

What you say makes Rob, I'd like comments and critique about it. Obviously in the sense that it isn't really a shot that could be prepared for very much or reshot so I guess there's kind of limited ways to be constructive. I'm certainly interested on how to make that shot as powerful as possible, given the subject matter. I think the black and white helps, not that its a natural b&w image, but I'd love to hear post processing suggestions.

I think the obvious point to make, Richard, is that we can't tell from the shot that your brother is actually in the military. Had he been more obviously in uniform then it would have altered the shot completely. I understand that it's difficult to 'arrange' settings in circumstances such as this one, and would probably be too sensitive to do so.

On the tech side, I see you used flash and the shutter speed was only 1/13s. I think f/5.6 would have been fine for this shot, and you would have got less motion.