Jen wanted a more recent photo so here is ANZAC day 25 April 2025 a public holiday throughout both Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corp). This day is a remembrance day in both countries for a battle that was fought on a peninsula in Turkey 1915 during WW1. Throughout my life this day has played great significance, a chance to put on my fathers-grandfathers medals and go to school proudly. The photo is of a local park memorial in my suburb Templestowe Lower in which 41 names are recorded, Templestowe, then a farmimg comminity only had 551 people in 1911, these young men represent 8% of the entire population such was the devastation of WW1. Today 17,000 live in this suburb it is virtually entirely suburban.
Here you can see 3 young men-boys from the local private school speaking to the audience about 700 people, back in 2006 my first at this venue 25 people attended. You can see the local president of our RSL (Returned Serviceman League), chest covered with medals sitting with a sombre look, often expected on this day at these events.
Pentax K-S2, Tamron 28-200mm. F8, shot at 169 mm, 500/1, ISO 1600. Processing Photoshop Auto. Topaz Auto.
8 comments posted
Richard Goldenberg
Ron - Wonderful to capture a moment from such an important event. I tried an alternate crop just to see how it would look and posted it here. The feature that struck me as most interesting/moving in the image is the expression on the face of the RSL president and I wanted to see how the image looked cropped to make him the center of attention. Posted: 07/04/2025 06:39:42
Ron Davis
Hi Richard. Thanks for the suggestions re ANZAC day. I also like cropping to give emphasis to face or faces, the only issue for HI is that a hard crop may take away from the story and in the end, people say why is this guy looking so glum? I have on one other occasion shown a similar photo regarding the shooting of Moslim worshipers in New Zealand several years ago, USA people in PSA did not like the photo, must have been too close to home. Posted: 07/04/2025 20:10:40
Arunima Chattopadhyay
Interesting image Ron. The facial expressions conveys a range of emotions of the boys. A glorious moment showing respect to the soldiers who served during war. I like keeping the pillar with the names of the dead in the war . Its a part of the commemoration. Posted: 07/06/2025 10:07:43
Jen Fawkes
HI Ron, I think this is an excellent HI image and the position you have taken this really tells a powerful story. I can see this is Australia (the flags), a memorial of some sort, the old digger in the background wedged between the solemn young.
Sometimes its hard to know what to crop and what to keep in - but it is always important that the person in a HI image is part of a wider story, not just a portrait. So for this image I would certainly keep the piller in.
and of course - these are just my thoughts. Posted: 07/07/2025 00:45:24
Leslie Larson
A moving ceremony for sure. My only suggestion would be to tone down the overly bright white thing in the background to draw more attention to the people. Posted: 07/08/2025 01:33:51
Ron Davis
This was an awkward photo to take the background roof behind memorial was in strong early morning sun I was lucky to get trees blocking sun out when I took photo. Later photos only 20-30 mins later were subjected to lens flare. Could not try in afternoon, ideal as ceremony always carried out near sunrise. Posted: 07/09/2025 18:36:02
Leslie Larson
Perhaps it's not allowed to lower the brightness in backgrounds in PS? I'm never sure about all the restrictions. Posted: 07/10/2025 08:06:22
Tom Brott
Wonderful story with great facial expressions telling the somberness of the event. I like how the memorial column you can read the sayings and names of those remembered. The Australian flags around the column also let one know where the event is happening. Posted: 07/14/2025 11:51:14
