Photography: May 2004 Archives

©Dave Marquis 2004 Zenit ET

 I am wondering why people seem to skimp on the flowers that they place at grave sites. I mean that these flowers that I have captured here on film are fake, plasticy things that will probably be on this planet for centuries if not millenniums to come. This is also a sign that we live in a busy world, where people do not have time to make it out to their loved ones even once every two weeks to change the flowers. It is a truly sad thing to see. I am just thinking that if people really wanted to never forget a death of someone they loved, wouldn't they choose the best flowers?  Fake flowers are really just the tip of the iceberg. In that I mean that it is not common to see forgotten people whose markers have been graffitied, knocked over, or have simply have been forgotten and sunk into the ground so little is left to even find these people by if it wasn't for a burial map.  I took this picture while on a walk with my wife, Yuko on May 10, 2004. It was taken with my Zenit ET on Fuji Superia 200 color film.

 I saw this picture over at hmmn: musings from the far east(erwood) and I was amazed. Not just at this one picture but from all of Kurt's photos. I am sorta jealous and I hope some day to be able to catch the same moods in my photography that he does. I beleive This picture is so outstanding because of the way that the encircling cherry blossoms pull the eye towards the subject of the picture, a couple enjoying the flowers in the park.

 I made a conscious decision this year to try to capture the ephemeral blossoms in black and white. Not sure how successful this attempt was, but you be the judge. -Kurt Easterwood

 I beleive it works and it is great. Why? Because I feel that a color image would have let the stark color differences between the sakura (cherry blossoms) and the grass would have distracted from the centeral point of the photo, the couple.

This of couse is just my opinion......