'During the first World War (1914/18) the Indian army fought on the Western Front with British troops. The Brighton Royal Pavilion, used as a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers nursed over 4,000 patients back to health. The Moslems who died in the hospital were buried at Woking in Surrey, but the Hindus and Sikhs were cremated at this site on funeral pyres sprinkled with symbolic metals, flowers, fruit, grains and spices. The ashes from the pyres were then scattered at sea.
The Chattri was erected on the site of the cremations in honour of the Indian soldiers who died at the Royal Pavilion war hospital. Brighton Borough Council jointly funded its construction with the India Office and now maintain the memorial & the land on which it is situated.
The Chatrri, designed by Hindu architect E C Henriques, is constructed from white Sicilian marble. Around the base there are inscriptions in English and Hindi. At the foot of the stairway, which is in the form of an Indian riverside landing traditionally associated with memorials to the dead, lie three granite slabs covering the three concrete crematory bases.
It was unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales on 1 February 1921 after which he delivered a speech praising the bravery of the Indian soldiers and asking that "future generations should not forget that our Indian comrades gave their lives in ... a conflict of which the issues were to most of them strange and impersonal".
Within a few years the memorial became neglected until it was renovated in 1951 by members of the Patcham Branch of The Royal British Legion. An annual Chattri Pilgrimage and Memorial service, organised by The British Legion, has taken place every year since with the High Commissioner for India, or his representative, Indian officers and The Royal British Legion in attendance. It is believed to be the only ceremony of its kind in England.'
The Image was taken using a Hoya IR72 filter.
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Place: 32 out of 96 Avg (all users): 5.9365 Avg (commenters): 7.6923 Avg (participants): 5.8636 Avg (non-participants): 6.0167 Views since voting: 1382 Votes: 126 Comments: 22 Favorites: 2 (view)
Beautiful image, don't know why it didn't do better. Image has a lot more 'oomph' if you do a levels adjustment and correct for the small lack in contrast.
this caught my eye from the thumbnail. The colouring is inspired! With the focus you've chosen and the faded look of the shot, it looks antique. Well done!
I happen to like it when photos look like paintings, especially when it suits the subject. Love the color; I'd play with the tone curves but just to see what it would look like rather than to recommend any specific change (I bet you've done that already!). If I was going to print this, I'd probably play with sharpening it a bit first, and then running it through a "Canvas" or "Oil Pastel" filter.
And now you've reminded me of a great place to have photographed near where I grew up ....
Gritty and atmospheric. Struck my eye straight away from the pages of entries. A memorable image. I particularly like the composition, with the monument standing as silent sentinel over its surroundings.
This is a beautifully captured image of this monument. I like brown and gold tones and the softness of the contrasts. I can easily picture this enlarged and framed, hanging on the wall of an executive office or dining room. I hope I remember to come back and and this to my favorites after the challenge because it certainly is.
My choice for first place, the compostion is very good, lighting is soft and warm. Evokes of feeling of times past, an extremely well done photo overall. congratulations. I can see why you had to leave it for perspective, but if i were to be very critical I would say should of cropped or moved the (garbage can?) in the bottom right corner.
This would also have been a beautiful entry in The Past. It reminds me of the poem "Ozymandias" where it says "the lone and level sands stretch far away." Lovely.
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