Soldier - 20

More from veteran's day....

Old soldiers never die and apparently they never mellow either. There's something about this image that is darkly dramatic and unsettling.

Smoking a victory cigar -  a fine homage to this soldier, and to soldiers everywhere.

Super light, mood and mystery.

It's a moody, good portrait to my eyes. Thanks for sharing, ciao, G.

I like the expression and the gesture - makes you wonder what he's thinking about as he smokes.

Also like lighting on the left side of the picture.

One minor comment is that the light on the right side of the picture (at the shoulder levle) seems darker than the lighting on the left side would suggest, resulting in a somewhat artificial black in an otherwise well balanced picture. Might be worth trying to increasing the exposure a bit on the right hand side and use vignetting instead - might do the trick. Hope that helps. 

Good shot ! 

Thank you all for stopping by and taking the time to comment. This is a WWII event I attend each year on veteran's day weekend. I make these available at no cost to all participants.

Thanks for your suggestion. Much appreciated! I will try to tweak...

A member of the famous 8th Air Force, whos chances of returning from a mission were less than a front line infantry soldier.  One crew was told, "Consider yourself dead.  Some of you won't come back from this.  Some of you will, but you'll be the lucky ones."

 

A striking portrait... Mike