A Leap & a Bound (larger view)

Hi Jim, Great capture and all the usual ammenities. But seriously thats an unbelievable BG, what is it and is it real, never mind that you've captured this girl leaping in mid-air. One of your best in recent times.

Best Regards,

Holger

Holger, 

This was taken at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

Jim

Great photo, and then I see that it is the Holocaust Memorial--and the incongruity of it all makes it even better.

--Lannie

Lannie,

I had similar thoughts to your own but after visiting the memorial 3 times in 5 days, I concluded that there are no restrictions on how visitors may interact with the space and objects at hand. In fact, I suspect the artist wanted to interactively engage visitors with the memorial no matter how minimal their understanding of historic truths. (Although, there must be some ground rules of some sort.)

For a brief moment, I considered titling the image: Contemporary Expression of Aryan Feelings of Superiority Over Jews .....but I don't think this young lady had even the remotest intention of expressing such an idea. She repeated the leap a dozen times as her friend photographed her over and over.

Unfortunately, my telephoto lens doesn't perform well in low light. Thus, this was the closest thing I got to an image I was happy with. 

The artist certainly succeeded in creating what may well be the most thought-provoking monument in the world. And this comes from a guy who has seen a lot of monuments over the years.  

Jim

Very nice capture, Jim.  I especially like your thoughtful comment on the interplay of the image and the Holocaust Memorial.

The subject's leaping against and among a background of rectangular stone structures makes for an interesting image.  However, given the setting, I wonder what was occupying her mind. 

I daresay that little was occupying her mind other than generating some traffic for her facebook page. Hopefully though, because the artist/sculptor created an environment that engaged her, some day down  the road, when she comes face to face with the Holocaust or a similar event in the future, there will be a connection with this experience and the reality it represents.