Sarajevo

Speechless, saddened, angry, moved with rage against the perpetrators of this horrific encounter.

 

Very touched by the photograph. B&W was the perfect medium for this image.

 

I am incapable of saying more.

To me, an image taken in circumstances like this should NOT be represented in a sensitive or beautiful manner, because emotions such as sensitivity and beauty in the face of the truth sugar-coats the reality of the situation instead.

If it were in color, it would have less impact for me because I believe it is the range of tones and texture that make this image as strong as it is. The bleached whiteness of the body-bag, like the bones of a long-dead corpse, demonstrates the starkness of the situation by contrasting its smoothness and grayness with the grainy stone of the marker and the earthy blackness of the soil.

I didn't make it past the photo.net home page this morning after I layed eyes on this image. I am floored. Will somebody please forward a link to Washington?

 

 

 

"War is the cemetery of futures promised".

-John Cory

7/7

Just because I'm not repeating the emotional sentiment expressed before me doesn't mean I don't feel it.

 

Regarding the image as a picture, I'm not sure about the cross across overlapping the body. I see it as a barrier to get over, into the picture, but I guess others will see it in a symbolic way. Visually, I think it emphasizes the cross, therefore the religion, and takes away from the body, and the fact of death by war, etc.

The harsh impact of reality bites hard viewing this image. Thanks Jean-Baptiste for taking us to the gravesides and forcing us to acknowledge the horror which mankind brings upon himself. Shocking and ultimately memorable.

gOOD cOMPOSITION, EXCELENT CAPTURE.

The real power in photography is in the emotion it ignites. In that regard, I have seen few more powerful than this one. In addition to the fog, I especially like the contrast of the white shroud to the overall greyness of the shot. A person finally at peace perhaps.

 

Excellent.

 

Bill

Doug raised a question about whether the cross overlapping the body, creating a barrier to "getting into" the photo. I had similar thoughts, but end up thinking it works this way. Without the overlap, I think the bright white sheet around the body would overwhelm the rest of the composition, deemphasizing the textures in the dirt and wood in the foreground.

 

A square format was also suggested, possibly expanding to include more sky. I think it might be interesting to see less sky, so that the composition really focused on graves going on in apparent infinity. The sky defines a limit to the grave yard.

 

Just some thoughts. A wonderful photograph that does justice to its subject.

Disturbing but true. Well captured shot 6/6 from me.

What is it they say... a portrait format is more often used for things like cathedrals with spires and therefore signifies a more spiritual aspect? Forget this square business, at least in this incidence. The vertical format 'works' here.

 

I definitely wish the photographer would have moved to the left a half step and tried to center the body between the two crosses, 'possibly' having it closer to the lower left corner of the frame and including more distance. I say possibly because I have no idea what else was there, in that distance. In either case the body is what signifies this picture; the crosses enhance.

 

A fine image. Thank you for sharing.

Excellent, strong image. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case, much more than that.

 

The only thing is I wish the body wasn't partially covered by the cross.

the best reason i think of to carry around a camera is to obtain images like this and share them. technically, i would darken a bit, perhaps add a touch of contrast. but that is a question of taste with black and white images. a quibble; the fog hangs in the air like a heavy despair, as the viewer realizes there is a body underneath each cross, just as this one, and that the crosses are seemingly without end. this photo speaks to, serves our humanity like few others.

So sad and yet superb. Your angle shows how fragile and unimportant we are. This picture puts words to rest, so I'll do the same.

cropped for strength

did not realise his file was sooooooooooooooo large.

the original for comparison.

I've never ever cropped a picture, in 15 years of practice.

Ever heard about the respect of integrity?

I hardly ever come angry, but this time...

How dare you!

I see no point in this crop. I like the original frame better. This is not to say that cropping an image is in general a bad idea.

I like this photo (for reasons I'll get to shortly) however, I thought perhaps I'd put myself in the undoubtedly small category of people with the temerity to provide actual (constructive I hope!) critcism. There's always quite a lot of high fiving related to POW despite the forum rules requesting that comments like 'great job' be shared privately. In any event, the theme of the photo which seems to be 'war is bad' is a popular one and unfortunately seems to be the thrust of many of the comments here rather than the photo itself.

 

First off; the grain the photo is presented in seems very well suited for the emotional tones of the image. B&W seems like the obvious choice for the mood and is well executed here. The contrast is positive without being overly strong and the central subject is very well the focus point as a result. I think the rear fade is excellent, leaving the viewer to ponder a possible infinit length of similar graves.

 

Some thoughts about things which might be improved; the photo itself does not strike me as being a landmark original composition. I feel like I've seen many such photos - although this one is very strong and deserves recognition as such I'm not clear why in particular this is garnering such a strong originality response (perhaps I've just seen more of these types of photos than others?). Additionally for me at least, the cross closest to the foreground has it's horizontal element intruding over the focal point. This crossbar has a very heavy tone to it and the interaction of the two are visually irritating. Compositionally speaking this is a significant drawback from my perspective. Obviously it's reasonable to assume for others it adds value (again, this is just my opinion of course). It would be interesting to see the image with that element cloned out which could be done without much difficulty. Even more interesting for me is how nondescript this photo is in opposition to it's suggested theme. Had I not known this related to war I wouldn't have assumed it did, nor perhaps even felt that it was sad...more along the lines of somber. I'm leary of photos that that require significant exposition by the artist in 'order for us to get it'. I'm not convinced this photo stands as well without the message explicitly stated...and in my opinion suffers somewhat as a result.

 

In any event, all that being said - I do quite like it. Criticism aside I'd be proud if it was mine and so the artist should be.

 

Oh...and 'great job!' ;)

Great journalism work, hatts off. perfect composition, nothing to add. just silence and respect for the heros. very good choice for the POW. 7/7

I like the angle and visibility of the body bag. In fact, the image would fall apart if you were to remove either one. I like the striking contrast of the body bag as the subject. I also like the misty grain of the image. A+

This is a very strong image, even without (maybe _especially_ without) the knowledge that this was a grave yard in Bosnia. Looks like the technical choice of placement of the foreground cross was very limited, but to my extremely amature eye it works well.

 

The "cropping" performed above is a drastic mistake. To me the foreground space and background shroud of fog (where you can just barely see the hint of many more grave markers) suggest that this grave yard is infinite, and that death is the only thing that is truly eternal. The lack of anything "modern" in this shot also suggests that this could have been taken anywhere, at any time in history where the cross was a religious symbol, and where the poor are victims of whatever social or physical disease is killing them.

Highly creative view of destruction, and an excellent choice for POW.

The photographer's propinquity to the grave makes me feel I have one foot in it and am in danger of being swallowed up by the earth to which all must return; hopefully in our own time. It is not pretty. It is not sanitised by time and colour. It just is.

The mist wraps itelf round the symbols of eternity like a protective shroud. It makes one think about the forces of destruction and fosters a sense of relief for the presence of their opposite.

I'm sorry this park has been transformed into a burial ground but am grateful to have been informned of the fact.

This is a photograph that could alter certain points in human consciousness : congratulations Jean-Baptiste.

Michael: I _like_ that crop. I don't know that I would necessarially chose it over the original format for an exhibition, but I'd certainly seriously consider it.

 

As for Jean-Baptiste's reaction, I have to admit to being fairly shocked. Whilst cropping an image certainly changes how you view it, I don't think that, if you do so whilst preserving the essential aspect and subject matter, it changes it much more than, for example, putting it up on the web instead of hanging a 10" by 15" print on the wall. (In fact, given the choice of showing you my photos on the web or as reasonably large prints cropped by someone else, I'd be handing scissors to whomever walks by.) So Jean-Baptiste, perhaps you could remember that other people take much more casually what you may think of as desecration, and vice versa, and take things like this in the spirit of criticism and exploration in which they're intended.

 

Bruce: I think the photo would still work well without explanation. It seems obvious from the nature of the cemetery (unmarked crosses, closely packed, bare dirt) that it's related to some sort of disaster, and it does look to me like the sort that would result from a war.