Arlington West, Santa Barbara Photo

Photographer’s Note

Yesterday I saw this memorial on the beach of Santa Barbara, California. According to the organizers (VeteransForPeace.org, among others), this memorial have been set up on the beach every Sunday since November 2003, in remembrance to the more than 2300 US troops that have died in Iraq. Each cross bears the name (and some a photo) of a dead man or woman. As somebody said me, the beach would not be enough to put crosses for each civilian Iraqi dead (more than 100,000, according to conservative assumptions, such as Les Roberts in The Lancet medical journal).
At each corner of the memorial there was a US flag at half-mast, as the usual symbol of mourning for the dead. On a side, each main step of the war in Iraq was marked by a written sign.
They call this memorial as Arlington West, Santa Barbara, so do I for this photo. That’s a West Coast kind of answer to Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
My photo has a similar subject as Ti De(deathcabscutie)’s.
Location in WikiMapia: 34.410229, -119.690305.

plimrn, maloutim, jwmunro has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Nikofan (1086) 2006-04-03 19:13

Hello,

Very impressive photograph.
It could be interesting to make a similar memorial front the White house!
I don't understand that war meaning!
Thanks to share with us!

Best regards.

Bernard

plimrn (19596) 2006-04-04 1:19

Hi Francisco,
Excellent composition. I find it strange that the protests about immigration (500,000) are bigger than the war protests which are lucky to get 500. These memorials are generally maintained by a handful of devoted people.
Regards, Pat

lucasgalodoido (16583) 2006-04-04 7:05

Interessante a foto, um cemitério na praia, só essa bandeira dos USA que estraga um pouco a foto (Totalmente pra falar a verdade!) mas ficou muito boa!

lcarolan (948) 2006-04-11 4:47

Hi Francisco,
We have attended several such demonstrations here in Ocean Beach; however, I'm afra9id vigils are way too downer in a downer life. In the 60's the antiwar protests featured music, dancing and flower. I do appreciate the important message shoem n=by your composition. The rows of crosses and the half-mast flag have a srong visual impact

RPoole5552 (1643) 2006-04-13 21:34 [Comment]

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nn15 (12) 2006-06-05 14:59

Oi Francisco,

excelente foto. São fantásticas as várias linhas formadas pelas cruzes, que dão a sensação de infinito. O detalhe da bandeira americana aparecer na foto também é de realçar.

maloutim (3929) 2009-02-01 12:11

Bonjour Francesco!
Un très bon envoi sur le droit de protestation aux US! Bien sûr, c'est un très grand avantage et une grande différence avec les pays qui exécuteraient les protestataires!
Je me suis déjà fait la réflexion que nous avions la chance de pouvoir exprimer nos opinions dans les pays démocratiques! ( Bien qu'en France on se demande parfois combien de temps cela va durer avec notre président actuel...)
Cependant, je me rends compte que dans les pays où le droit de parole est acquis, cela n'empêche pas les dirigeants d'en faire à leur tête, en masquant leurs magouilles de façon très subtile!
J'aime bien ta photo! Très bonne perspective sur les croix qui s'étendent presque à l'infini! C'est assez émouvant de voir ces gens qui tout en se délassant, viennent payer leur tribu aux victimes américaines de la guerre. Et encore, elles sont bien peu nombreuses par rapport aux victimes irakiennes. Tu fais bien de le souligner!
Merci du partage!
Marie Louise.

jmdias (19053) 2009-10-12 5:42

chico

vivem fazendo estes cemitérios de mentirinha nas praias do rio e do recife para lembrar as pessoas que morrem a cada ano na nossa guerra civil de cada dia, nossos governantes dizem que é um problema social e deixam tudo correr como sempre, não fazem nada. depois que o governo anterior resolveu grande parte do problema da inflação, acho que o maior problema do br atualmente é a violência, falhas na estrutura da saúde, saneamento e educação são gritantes, mas a violência é, na minha opinião, um elemento ainda mais aterrador nas nossas vidas na terra encantada do nosso governo atual "nunca antes neste país,..".
belo registro do protesto na areia, dá ás pessoas uma ideia melhor do que números frios

abraços

jorge

jwmunro (6571) 2009-11-04 18:27

Francisco -

There is little to say about this image - here an image is worth one-thousand words or 2300+ words and counting every day. A veteran thank you!

Thank you for sharing.

John