Yesterday (11/27/10) was the annual wreath-laying ceremony at our local veteran's cemetery. Many of my daughter's high school band members volunteer (along with hundreds of others) to help place Christmas wreaths on each interred veteran's (or family member's) headstone. As a band mom, I was totally obligated to go along (with the camera of course). Who am I kidding...I would have gone anyway!! It's a very moving event and it is an honor to participate.

I tried to build my collage to show various scenes from the day & the markers before and after. The sun was very bright which posed some challenges for me. Here's what I came up with:



Any thoughts or critique for me? I do have some other images I could swap out. I have agonized over which to include, but these seem to 'fit' together better than some of the others. I probably should add that our veteran's cemetery is fairly new & we 'only' have about 2400 interments right now.

I apologize to TinaMarie for the similar theme, but I really had this idea as soon as this topic was announced. I just had to wait until yesterday to shoot it. I hope this one is different enough not to matter too much.

Thanks,
Sherry

Good for you Sherry, and those that were there for the ceremony. I had forgotten about the wreath laying ceremony. Thankyou for the reminder. Your gallery captured the event nicely!
I love the idea, although to be honest, I do feel some of the angles and perspectives are repeated. Obviously these are personal and creative choices, it could be the way you want to tell the story.
In any event, nicely done!

p

Here's a different version. Is this one any better? I guess I'm really wondering about the image choices. I tried to get a sense of the location, markers before the wreath placements, wreaths waiting for placement, volunteers placing the wreaths, and then finally the 'finished product' if you will. I sort of didn't want to use the shot of the memorial (boots/rifle/helmet) because that is too similar to another image used. I still have some other shots, but I did notice that many of the images I have of people actually placing the wreaths have the same or similar composition. I didn't notice that until I tried to put the collage together though. I guess when I find something I like, I tend to stick with it (lol).



Thanks for any advice or critique you can offer.

Sherry

I like the thought of the first version, with the chronology. I was thinking the same as you, when looking thru the gallery, that some images didn't help the story, but certainly are moving.
I find that I'm personally, more drawn to the lower perspectives, similar to images 4, 6 and 9.

Good luck!
P