MY first post...The Wall

This was not staged by me...just A scene I came upon. This is at the

Vietnam Memorial. Help me out with the proper category as

well....thanks

Jim

 

there have been thousands upon thousands of photos of that wall. many like yours. Your photo is well exposed and well seen, and is moving. But it also is like many many others so it is not very original. Keep shooting. Kevin

rating some one's photo on originality,it's quite like saying 'been there seen that,next!' and that's not realy critiquing.This photograph is gorgeous.

Love it. No matter how many times the same subject is shot...each one is different. That is what is so wonderful about art and photography. To see the way others see the same thing. One comment of critique only./... See how the image changes when you crop the right side to crop out the lighter part of the image. Leave about 1/4 inch of the right there. The rose is then in the right 3rd of the photo. I think that is all it would need to bring it to perfection.

The depth of field really draws focus to the rose and emphasizes its place in the vast list of names. The sidwalk or road reflection detracts significantly from the aesthetics. If you could do the same shot--easier said than done, no doubt--without the reflection, it would be quite a dramatic and appealing photo due to the wide angle, DOF technique, and contrast of the red rose on the black background.

 

I am an amateur and have been into photography for only three years, and I have never seen a photo like this, so I would consider it a fairly original perspective.

 

I know that almost anything in DC has been done before. I innocently had what I thought was a great shot of the wall with the washington monument reflected. It was a great composition, I found the same layout on a postcard in the kiosk. I will try a reshoot but the hard part is to get the reflection of the rose without the other reflections. I'll look at the other wall and facing other direction.

I think masking the reflection with a polarizer would have helped this picture.

Pictures of the wall will always be important to me. I always look for a familiar name. I liked it. It's important because so many of us relate to it. What is important for the photographer is to honestly see. I am sure you've spent some time there, try being there without a camera, or at least have it tucked away, with no intention to photograph and then see what you see.

I like the sentement the picture easily conveys. Both displays honor and sorrow...

 

 

Jim, I've seen many photos of the wall as I'm sure we all have, while I understand your feelings about reflections, Ithink that I would make them work for me to illustrate in some small way the number of people who visit the wall. I think your shot of the rose in the wall is very evocative of the emotions the wall brings out in people. I think that your photo is a success.

Roger Salls rsalls5376@aol.com

Washington DC has some memorials that are known worldwide, I'm sure. I don't think this is one of them. For this picture to work, the viewer basically has to already know what it is. Otherwise it could be a bank tower in NY or London. Then the viewer has to be familiar with the Viet Nam conflict, and American sentiment of the period. A bit like expecting a picture of a cotton boll to convey the suffering of Southern families in the wake of Sherman's sub-human massacre.