Hi everyone,
My wife's uncle passed away a little over 5 years ago as a result of exposure to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam War. He was honored in an "In Memory" ceremony on Patriots day in Washington DC.

A little bit about the ceremony taken from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund - In Memory Program

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's In Memory program honors those who died as a result of the Vietnam War, but whose deaths do not fit the Department of Defense criteria for inclusion upon the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

I won't go into details but it was very moving.

Onto the photo question... If any of you were in the DC area you know how miserable it was that day, absolutely pouring rain. I don't have an appropriate DA* lens for this so the Pentax stayed in the bag most of the time and I used my Olympus Stylus 790SW.

To keep it Pentax related here is a photo of my wife's cousin reading her father's name off. It was the only one I used the Pentax for.



Anyway my question is on this photo and if it works. While my wife's family was putting the memorial next to the wall I took this shoot of her two cousins' reflections in the wall. My wife's aunt is actually in the photo as well (in the blue poncho on the right side) but you can't see her face.



I cropped it to just include my wife's cousins but I think I like the other one better. Something about the cropping and getting closer to the reflection makes it a little less appealing I think. Not to mention there isn't as much room crop with the P&S as I'm used to with the K20D.



Any thoughts?


John

[Jimbo]

Palmor, been awhile since I have seen you post. Those are beautiful images. Really love the second one. So many vets past away not just on the battle field! Prefer the uncropped version. Thank you for sharing. JIM

[cindy s]

My favorite is the second one as well. All are good shots though. Thanks for sharing.

[SpecialK]

#2 is one of the best I've seen of that subject.

[Zeno]

You can try to put first one in BW, I have the feeling it would get extra accent on rain and sad day.

And second shot is the best, don't crop it, don't frame it, it's beautiful and touching as it is.

John, I think the first one is the better of the two. Although the cropped version makes the names on the memorial stand out more, the first one has more power through it's subtlety and broader view.

[RoxnDox]

I agree that the uncropped version is more effective. Would like to see a B&W conversion - the colors are kinda distracting to my eyes.

I've been to the Wall, but not in the rain. It adds an interesting mood to the reflective image. Good shooting!

Jim

[palmor]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the replies! It is nice to know what I expected, the uncropped version is better

I thought about this photo in BW as well (here it is) but the reflection doesn't quite stand out as much. I do like the mood more though. I wonder what it would look like printed at 8x10..hmm

I'll post them next to each other to make it easier to compare

[gawan]

I really like those colour reflections!