Arlington, a photo from Virginia, South

Photographer's Note

Here in the US yesterday was Memorial Day which is the day we remember those who have fallen in war. No other place symbolizes this loss as much as Arlington National Cemetery. This is just a small hillside and is but a small fraction of the more than 260,000 people buried there. This was taken on the way to see the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. President John F. Kennedy with his wife, Jacqueline, and two of their children are buried there as well with the eternal flame. Space is rather limited here and nowadays generally speaking only high-ups can be buried here. This was taken last year during spring.

Click on the map link to see how big this place is.

snuggleaphagus, weswang, jammer79, syd1946, Emile, PJE, plimrn, ramesh_lalwani, aznegrao, Jeppe, papagolf21, evanrizo, nwoehnl, coco, sabyasachi1212 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rafelito (3648) 2006-05-30 20:42

Hi Stephen, nice composition and of curse paceful place.Many regards.Rafael

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2006-05-30 20:51

When I was at Arlington my first reaction was saddens and then the thought occurred to me that this marvelous place exists because of wars. I t is a beautifully but sad place.
on to the photo
The colors are gorgoeous and the lacy effect the tress have in shrouding the scene is great. The point of view is gorgoeus and the colors stunning.

(five years ago I celebrated Memorial day by getting married)

weswang (18223) 2006-05-30 20:57

Hi Mr. Steve, A very meaningful picture for Memorial Day. Thanks for the map link. It looks that the area is larger than the mall. A good early spring shot to see through the tree branches with fresh leaves and to see the perspective view of the tombstone well lined up in the picture. Good PoV and nice depth.

[2] +

jammer79 (2718) 2006-05-30 21:14

Hi Stephen, what a nice composition and lines.
Like it.
Cheers, R.

syd1946 (18663) 2006-05-30 22:11

Hello Stephen,
Very well composed scene with the green color
rules the place.Gives to me a nice sense and
a "spring feeling".Nice work,
Best wishes,
Thomas

Emile (20348) 2006-05-31 0:28

Thank you Stephen for showing us this special place. I have been there many times and is nice to see it again. You had a very good POV, we are able to see the lines of tombstones through the spring leaves and trees. Nice lighting and sharpness.
Well done.

PJE (20756) 2006-05-31 0:28

Stephan I checked out the Google map and was amazed how large this graveyard is. All for the dead who have freely given of their lives to make freedom possible for you and me. A very fitting photo for Memorial Day.
I like how the trees partially cover these gravesites,and how it makes me want to look through the trees to see the background. Nice effect Stephen. Good thinking on your composition. Thanks for sharing!

carper (96) 2006-05-31 2:08

very nice one Stephen,
a very very nice view with a very interesting dof, the blue of the sky is a good contrast with all the green.
good job.
gr. jaap

PixelTerror (0) 2006-05-31 5:02

Hi Steve,
As I hear in the news they will need more space... A place that for sure has a strong importance for your country, the exposure is good and I'm wondering whether a somewhat lower PoV would not result in stronger tombs graphical perspectives, not sure, what do you think ?
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

alekpet (4661) 2006-05-31 5:26

Hi Stephen.

I just hope there are no more wars, there's too much of it going all around the world. The view is showed towards the sun, which has a nice effect with the tree shadows, but makes the white stones less visible, which is good in this case, it gives a special sad atmosphere.

Aleks

feather (51128) 2006-05-31 5:26

I love the way you composed this looking through the trees; we can see the line of graves on the right disappearing into infinity. Fitting photo for Memorial Day.
Kath (most of Europe have what we call Rememberance Day on 11th November, which was the end of WWI)

arnabchat (7233) 2006-05-31 6:18

this has some elements of symmerty that draws me towards it. the green is so refreshing.

danyy (0) 2006-05-31 6:23

Bonjour Stephen,
je suis impressionné par la note qui accompagne la photo, 260.000 personnes enterrées. Un hommage émouvant à tous ceux qui sont tombés lors de guerres et quel que soit leur camps, tous n'ont pas choisi.
Une atmosphère de calme et de recueillement.
Bien à toi.
Daniel.

capthaddock (28790) 2006-05-31 11:15

Hi Stephen - wonderful memorial day shot, I really like the greena nd blue mix, the tombstones have a neat vineyard pattern. Unfortunately I still can't get the map function to work.

plimrn (21344) 2006-05-31 12:04

Hi Steve,
Wes has already described my thooughts perfectly so I'll Echo them, "A very meaningful picture for Memorial Day. Thanks for the map link. It looks that the area is larger than the mall. A good early spring shot to see through the tree branches with fresh leaves and to see the perspective view of the tombstone well lined up in the picture. Good PoV and nice depth." I continue to be awed at your ability to get the map right in the perfect place...Pat

aznegrao (10296) 2006-05-31 21:11

Hi Stephen!!
As árvores são sempre bem vindas nas composições. Aqui elas suavisam uma cena triste.
Greetings.
aznegrao.

Jeppe (18654) 2006-06-01 3:39

Hi Stephen - I been here back in 1979 - but I can't remember this view. The Tomb of JFK was on our tour - Thanks for updating me and the memories - I wasen't aware theres to kids dead.

Regards
Jeppe

papagolf21 (76561) 2006-06-01 5:22

Bonjour Stephen,
Voilà l'intérêt de TE, présenter des endroits qui sortent des sentiers battus. Sur une pelouse ombragée par de beaux arbres, se trouvent les stèles marquant les tombes. Toutes sont identiques, une sorte d'égalité devant la mort. Aucune barrière assurant une séparation, aucune fleur, aucune dalle marquant la tombe, ce qui donne l'impression que les morts reposent en toute simplicité.
Merci du partage Stephen.
Amitiés.
Philippe

evanrizo (456) 2006-06-01 14:48

Wooooh an excellent image,very nice colors and great depth.
Thanks for share.

nwoehnl (122) 2006-06-01 15:20

It's an obvious but good subject to post for Memorial Day, Steve, and the photo is well framed with the look down the slope on the lines of headstones. Good vivid colors, too. On closer inspection the details seem a bit fuzzy, but I imagine you must have had a heck of a difficult time getting this one below 200 KB due to the amount of detail (I'm just battling the same problem on some cherry blossom photos from Japan as I'm typing this). I remember the vastness of this cemetery, and I also remember how at JFK's grave people were still breaking into tears, four decades after Dallas.

cessy (13647) 2006-06-01 15:26

very nice tribute for the memorial day
I like the composition and the framings with the tree

poulinp (4528) 2006-06-01 16:23

I like the way in which the asymmetrical and disordered side of the trees lets foresee the aligned and ordered cemetery. That gives a good effect and a good impact to the photograph.

ramesh_lalwani (3211) 2006-06-05 20:10

Hi Steve
Nice composition and topical.I remember seeing similar at Point Loma SanDiego.TFS
Ramesh

coco (30433) 2006-06-06 18:11

Hi Stephen.
The colours and POV, as also the composition, look good.
Also an interesting place, day and note.

Thanks for share.

Mishe (3515) 2006-06-18 15:57 [Comment]

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dsidwell (9771) 2006-06-18 18:23

I like the originality of this one, Stephen. It looks so peaceful here, with the trees--and shooting through them really enhances this.

sabyasachi1212 (19739) 2006-07-19 0:12

Hi Stephen,
It was a pleasure visiting your gallery going through some eonderful images. This one is so soothing with its comforting colours, excellent POV. Good note too!
With Greetings from India
Sabyasachi

mumek (20190) 2006-08-03 7:01

Good morning Stephen!
Very beautiful spring capture of the cemetery. Nice composition with natural colors. Few years ago, I was in Arlington to see my son and his family, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to see National Cemetery. I spend a lot of time in Washington museums. Great shot. Thanks for the interesting note.
regards
ziggy

Kenny10pin (19301) 2006-09-17 3:50

great shot, the trees in the foreground and the peaceful background. well taken