sidemirrorshooting

I was determined to go to the American War Memorial (AWM) for a shoot of sorts and today I did. I picked a time where the sun was high and rising, and since it was a war memorial, I dressed up to pay respects for the dead, but still comfortable enough for shooting (meaning jeans, a collared shirt, a loose shirt, tie, and my chucks).

I drove there at around 12, missed a turn and wasted a good 5-10 minutes for the detour, talking to the guard, and parking. I hopped out of the car and into the hot, hot sun. I carried my messenger bag with Vivi, Av-1, and renault a notepad and pen and studied the area.

Mostly I gaped. I was greeted with vast plains of greens, a sea of whites, and a field of deep blue. I feel like I want to pull apart and do everything in that precious span of 30 minutes I have.

I have never been in such a vast landscape of crosses in my life. They seem to stretch out from a far distance and when you think they’re all in a straight line, think again as when you change angles they seem to go in curves..

God bless those who rest here…

I took the usual AWM shots which I think everybody has. The curvatures. And the pretty blue sky. Everybody goes here either on a morning or the afternoon but I knew going there at noon had some perks…

the first traversal of AWM’s memorial list has a sun roof (or so my lame interior definition tells me) that creates a magnificent beam of noontime sunlight. It seems like if you step there, you will feel the angels sing and the gates of heaven opening to a new dimension.

tweaked a bit in adobe lightroom

The ever famous american war memorial curves, each marble wall engraved the names of soldiers who have been honored a place in this field. It was an awesome sight to behold. And I couldn’t help but be a part of this beautiful structure.

cropped and tweaked with lightroom + timer

I proceeded to walk around until I was sweating from heat and tired from thinking of things to shoot. I crossed to the other side and saw a star memorial between all the crosses. I later found out from my manager that it represents the jewish soldiers who fought the war…

a star among the crosses

lomofied using adobe lightroom

I was staggering around the cemetery. Most of the time I was on my knees shooting. There were a lot of elements that added noise to my shots, and it frustrated me to no end. The skyscrapers were a pain, sometimes the houses at the far distances were and the trees were seem to be a bit out of place. ARGH.

Here’s an accidental shot that Bai told me it was his favorite in my set of photos from the AWM (more about the c&c tomorrow).

guess what? I shot this by accident! w00t for lucky!

I was already nearing my deadline, I have depleted my rolls and I was sporting a 2 bar battery life on renault when I first started. The last shots I took were the obligatory shadow outline was taken before plopping into the itchy, but-I-don’t-really-care-anymore-because-I’m-goddamn-tired grass. :)

for some reason, the Canon IXY 910 is creates natural vignetting or barrel distortion

And before I gave up completely because of low battery, this happened.

some ounce of decency went along with this

And my favorite vanity shot from the memorial…

refusing the light

I signed on the guestbook, got back to the car feeling very unaccomplished and headed back to the office.

I will be back with a vengeance!
(and with Bai :))

Stumble it!