I had another shot for this challenge, and submitted it a few days ago, but decided that it would be rather cliche. Considering that today is Memorial Day, I felt a little inspired, and made a trek to my basement and hauled out some of the gear I carried in Iraq. When I was packing to leave for Kuwait before the war began, my wife (now an ex) slipped a bible into my ruck. I didn't know it was there until I got to Kuwait. I was never a terribly religious person, but my wife cared enough to put it there, so when I stripped down my pack before crossing the border into Iraq, I kept the bible with me, and had it through my entire tour.
I spent the whole day shooting, and this is what I came up with. It is a pretty personal piece, I hope you enjoy it...
Statistics
Place: 61 out of 311 Avg (all users): 5.7872 Avg (commenters): 6.6154 Avg (participants): 5.4375 Avg (non-participants): 5.9677 Views since voting: 1248 Views during voting: 277 Votes: 188 Comments: 21 Favorites: 1 (view)
I love the feel of this photo. Warm, yet very dynamic. And very personal. The bible is subtle, but calls attention to itself just because it is so different from everything else. And it's placed perfectly to be the anchor for the photo; a place for the eye to rest and keep returning to as it explores the rest of the photo. Everything else is interesting; I look and enjoy the varied shapes and textures. But I don't linger; I return to the bible to ponder what it means to me, and what it must mean to you.
Technically, this is very well done. Good lighting (except for the reflection in the goggles). Perfect focus and exposure. It needs a little sharpening to bring out the details.
This isn't the kind of photo that normally does well in a challenge: too busy, and too difficult to appreciate in a couple of seconds while voting. Considering, it did very well!
I am guessing a Remington 700 7.62x51 NATO. Wow south paw very cool as well. Maybe McMillan stock. Hard to tell what trigger :-) but again I am guessing 2 stage and very light. :-D
As I was browsing the submissions for this, I was moved by your photo. When my husband died in Afghanistan, I received his bible, worn and faded, back.
This is a very interesting composition! First on the technicals you have done a great job. The lighting is very natural and soft. My only nitpick is that the main subject for me is the Bible, but it seems to be just a tad oof (very small tad!).
As for as the religious message goes, I think this has been one of the strongest yet (I haven't seen them all yet though). I don't think many people will "get" the fact that as Christians we sometimes have to battle those that opress God's people and seek to destroy that which is good...so I'm guessing your score is suffering a bit. 10
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