When I first saw this week's theme, I immediately knew what I it. Nearby is an American War Cemetery, maybe some of you have heard of it. It is in Margraten in the Netherlands. President Bush visited it a few years back.
If you have never been there before, you should go there once. It is such a special place. Just the feeling if you walk onto the cemetery and you see over 8000 crosses in front of, each of them representing a fallen American soldier, is really overwhelming. The thought that all these people have given their lives to save ours and to bring peace is just striking.
Also the place is so well maintained, every marble gravestone is spotlessly white. One could hardly wish for a more beautiful place to rest. So why I went there for my entry, is because of the peaceful atmosphere at the place, just indescribable, the thousands of soldiers who have found their final resting place there and of course what they have all fought and died for; world peace.
At first I tried to capture as many graves at once as I could, but that just didn’t work out. So finally I decided to just capture one single grave. Maybe you don’t like what I done with the processing, but for me it shows exactly how I feel about the place, almost heavenly.
Thank you for this wonderful photo and the beautiful sentiments you express with it. It takes someone in Europe to still appreciate the great good the sacrifice of so many young lives brought to the world. I frequently despair for our own country as it seems that more and more of its citizenry naively imagine that personal liberty and world peace have no cost. Sadly, our own current political administration seems to exist in a utopian fantasy world that allows it to express virtually no opinion on the brutality in Iran wrought on people who simply wanted a (relatively) honest election, yet then stand shoulder to shoulder with thugs like Castro and Chavez when it comes to the lawful removal of a would-be tyrant in Honduras. Here in Los Angeles, i frequently see bumper stickers affixed to cars that say "War is not the answer" - a particularly stupid sentiment. Yes, War is not the answer if the question is how much is 11 plus 4, but War has often been the ONLY answer to evil and murderous tyranny. I pray that we in the US don't lose sight of all the good our brave young men who purchased peace with their lives. Thank you, again, for your poignant reminder.
As to the photo it is excellent in its clarity and DOF. I love the crisp color and the tad of vignetting at the bottom. My only complaint might be that the bright white in the background is almost blinding and therefore distracts from the subject. You might be able to tone that down with some judicious burning in with PS. It's worth a try.
As a photographer I am impressed by the thought behind it and by the execution. As an Israeli, it touches a deep cord in my heart. Thank you for posting it.
Thank you for this wonderful photo and the beautiful sentiments you express with it. It takes someone in Europe to still appreciate the great good the sacrifice of so many young lives brought to the world. I frequently despair for our own country as it seems that more and more of its citizenry naively imagine that personal liberty and world peace have no cost. Sadly, our own current political administration seems to exist in a utopian fantasy world that allows it to express virtually no opinion on the brutality in Iran wrought on people who simply wanted a (relatively) honest election, yet then stand shoulder to shoulder with thugs like Castro and Chavez when it comes to the lawful removal of a would-be tyrant in Honduras. Here in Los Angeles, i frequently see bumper stickers affixed to cars that say "War is not the answer" - a particularly stupid sentiment. Yes, War is not the answer if the question is how much is 11 plus 4, but War has often been the ONLY answer to evil and murderous tyranny. I pray that we in the US don't lose sight of all the good our brave young men who purchased peace with their lives. Thank you, again, for your poignant reminder....Show more →
+1000
Great, great photo Heronimus !
Thanks, Sergey.
P.S. By the way, who pics best photo ?
And if i can vote, how?
You have done an excellent job of interpreting this week's assignment, beautiful image!
To BluePixel, voting takes place after the assigment is up. This happens every Wednesday and a new assignment starts. Voting for the previous week closes at the same time. Look at WA board, at the top currently is a post for week 353(scary) voting.
Heronimus, this is an awesome image. Very touching.
Strad, I'm with you 100% except for one thing. I like the bright white of the background as it suggests (to me) the embracing glow of God.
Strad wrote:
Thank you for this wonderful photo and the beautiful sentiments you express with it. It takes someone in Europe to still appreciate the great good the sacrifice of so many young lives brought to the world. I frequently despair for our own country as it seems that more and more of its citizenry naively imagine that personal liberty and world peace have no cost. Sadly, our own current political administration seems to exist in a utopian fantasy world that allows it to express virtually no opinion on the brutality in Iran wrought on people who simply wanted a (relatively) honest election, yet then stand shoulder to shoulder with thugs like Castro and Chavez when it comes to the lawful removal of a would-be tyrant in Honduras. Here in Los Angeles, i frequently see bumper stickers affixed to cars that say "War is not the answer" - a particularly stupid sentiment. Yes, War is not the answer if the question is how much is 11 plus 4, but War has often been the ONLY answer to evil and murderous tyranny. I pray that we in the US don't lose sight of all the good our brave young men who purchased peace with their lives. Thank you, again, for your poignant reminder.
As to the photo it is excellent in its clarity and DOF. I love the crisp color and the tad of vignetting at the bottom. My only complaint might be that the bright white in the background is almost blinding and therefore distracts from the subject. You might be able to tone that down with some judicious burning in with PS. It's worth a try. ...Show more →
First my appologies for my absence of a few days. We went camping for a few days and I didn't have the chance to look at the comments or reply to them or any other of the entries before we left.
I want to thank everyone very much for their comments, they really stimulate and are very helpful. Also nice to see the picture does what I hoped it would; make people think about what peace actually means and what needs to be sacraficed sometimes to preserve it.
