Weekend Task #44 - Monuments and Memorials

[StephenM]

1 Jan
2. Levina
3. Jack

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

1) Jan1977
2) RDWP
3) Jack Dawe

my image was at Gettysburg both the monuments and the reenactors

 

[RDWP]

1. Jeff
2. Jan
3. Ed Will

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

#1 Jason (Jack Dawe)
#2 Ed
#3 Jeff

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

It’s past noon GMT so no more voting please.

Now we wait for Rob to tally the votes and declare the winner.

 

[RDWP]

Present! Back soon with the tally.

 

[RDWP]

The Results are In and may now be memorialized in the FOP-N record books.

A monumental win for Jan1977 with 16 points
followed by Jeff WX1USN with 12
and Ed Will and Jack Dawe with 8 each

Congrats to the winners and thanks to all who ran and to all who voted.

All yours Jan!

 

[Jan1977]

Thanks all for the votes. Didn't expect to win this one as I doubted about participating, but decided to submit a photo I took past summer when visiting Normandy in France. I do see monuments, just usually do not photograph them.

I've started a new WET with the theme "Night time": WET#45 Night time

 

[Jan1977]

I picked Jeff as my number 1 as the photo looks nice from a general image perspective and the ghosting post processing adds some to the 'remembrance' theme. Although not titled in the thread, I did see a title while hovering with my mouse cursor where I saw the hint of "ghosts" to better understand the photo.
My second place went to Ed, with not much to it versus Jeff's. To me it was clear that it was a monument and the light onto it made it photographically more interesting.
Third for me was Jason (Jack Dawe) as I could clearly see it was a monument/ memorial.

With Rob's photo it was less clear, due to the text not readable on my screen, so you see it is something to remember, but really needed the title to know where it was about. The photo did not stood out from a photo quality perspective to compensate for it, hence I picked Jason's over Rob's.

The photos of Rosalie (Greatgrandma) and Levina were on theme, but just did not do it for me in comparison to my top 3. With Rosalie's photo the kids climbing the mausoleum just give it a more ancient building feeling then a monument. With Levina's photo the people make it a busy photo, where the people more seem like tourist not remembering and just looking at a landmark, so it did not make my top 3 (of course there are always tourists around the Dam square in Amsterdam, so not much one can do about it).

 

[greatgrandma]

I realized when I saw the photos that emotion and sentiment would play some role in what people picked. I considered entering a picture of the memorial to those who died on the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but I didn't think it was a good enough photo.

I voted for Jeff's photo first because I realized that there were two photos combined, with the soldiers of the Grand Old Army (the north) in a ghostly array - and their uniforms told me that it was the Civil War and the type of monument told me that it was probably Gettysburg.

I expected that Ed's picture would be a winner because I think most of us remember Vietnam. I liked the reflection of the Washington Monument in the surface - that made it a little different from the usual. But I thought that it could have been edited so that the surface was still black.

The lack of connection was why I didn't vote for Levina's photo. It was muted in tone, and I wonder if it would have been better in black and white (which is something I almost never say)

i thought Rob and Jack's photos were very good and I debated which to vote for in which position. I appreciated that there were some monuments not connected with war.

 

[Terry McDaniel]

I went for Ed's first, because it captures two monuments, the second is fading in people's memories faster than the first.
Jan for the composition, and the fact it is a memorial to American troops who died in Europe. My dad landed on Normandy Beach three days after D Day.
Levina's was third, but its kind of a puzzlement to me, I don't understand how it relates to a war memorial. I'm assuming the center figure is Jesus on the cross, but I suppose it could be anyone. I guess I voted for it because it's got me thinking. I may have to google it and see if I can find some answers.

Here's the photo I though I entered. It is a memorial to a young boy who was killed in a motorcycle accident. He is not buried here, but the parents built this little memorial along a nearly deserted dirt road. It's about all rotted away now, I took this picture about 5 years ago.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Levina's was third, but its kind of a puzzlement to me, I don't understand how it relates to a war memorial.

The monument depicts the faces of war. The figure of a crucified Jesus in the middle and the man in chains left and right is not meant as a religious symbol but a symbol of suffering caused by war. On the left and right there are symbols of different types of resistance. The dogs depict grief and loyalty. A woman with child and the doves symbolise victory, peace and a new beginning.

There is also a remembrance wall with inscriptions and urns that contain earth from some execution places and honorary cemeteries.

Here's a link to the Wiki. It's not as extensive as the Dutch page, but still useful. You can also just switch to Dutch and have your browser switch to English (Safari on my Mac has that option anyway): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_(Amsterdam)

The monument is very much a monument in which people live, so to speak. The remembrance wall has a bench and people sit on it, within the monument. So to have people there is its normal state. Only on the 4th of May, during our remembrance day, the monument is devoid of people, as is the centre of Dam Square. On May 4th, shortly before 8pm the King and Queen walk towards the monument and there is a short lecture. After this the king and queen lay a wreath at the monument on behalf of all citizens of the Netherlands. Then taptoe is played, the bell tolls and there are two minutes of silence. It ends with our national hymn the Wilhelmus.

But on all other days the monument is occupied by people, just as you can see in my shot. It's not a very good shot though. It was a dark day and light was bland. I tried to make it a bit more dramatic, lit up the monument some, but it's still not a good image.

 

[RDWP]

The Washington Monument reflected in the black granite surface of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, in Washington DC on the National Mall.

View attachment 68534

Love the shot. Below is mine of the Vietnam memorial, which I've posted here at least once before.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Love the shot. Below is mine of the Vietnam memorial, which I've posted here at least once before.

View attachment 68792

I remember the shot, Rob. In all its simplicity it is very moving.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

#1 Jason (Jack Dawe)
#2 Ed
#3 Jeff

I loved Jason composition more than any other pic's, so I put his image first. I also liked it wasn't a war memorial. I also love Ed's image with the reflection, making it a double memorial. I really liked that. And Jeff came in third as I liked it more than any of the others.