Originally posted by Heie ...Also, there is something tantalizing and surreal about walking into a village that has no electricity, no running water, and no modern "necessities" as we know them. ...
"Oh, God forbid, my mega-genius phone isn't working today, my whole life is on there, I can't do anything without it, what will I DO????"
A lot of people simply never think about all the people living in places such as you describe, without all those "necessities", let alone basic essentials sometimes. We would all do well to be reminded thus.
It sounds like your commanders are putting a great deal of faith & confidence in you, upgrading your duties to brigade & battalion level. I think it must be well deserved. A big new adventure for you. Best of luck!
The sun is kind of behind you, in #5, which may have reduced the polarizer effect... But yes, I think they are still worth using on wide angles because they also enrich other colours; it's not all just about the blue sky. I often use mine for richer colour with rocks & vegetation.
The polarizer/wide angle article posted above won't load on either of my browsers. But, my 2 cents: I've been using a relatively new 19-35 lens quite a bit lately & usually leave the polarizer on it. Some of the pix do come out very polarized; however since it's a wide angle, there's sometimes more unevenness in the sky, i.e. one side being much darker, just because there's more sky in the shot for the effect to spread across... if that makes sense. Anyway, of course it depends on the angle of the sun; if it's not quite right then you get a lot of gradation, but when it works I've found it works very well. Just my experience.
#6, yes, the contrast works. Again I like the way your reports of the practical military things are always coloured by the photographer thinking behind the shot
Finally... and I suggest a bit hesitantly because you probably get "you should write a book" fairly often... but given your particular view of the whole experience, I think you'll have more than enough material for a book, "some day" when you are back home and finished soldiering. What kind of book is hard to decide; with all the photos maybe it should be a coffee table book with as much photo content as text... but then there's probably enough story for a more text-heavy book too, although the little photo inserts in those types of books would not do justice to all your photographic material... Hmm...mmm....
Just a thought. If you ever publish one, I'd read it
Cheers!