03-12-16 A Pretty Good View

By Scott Shephard

On our recent visit to southern California Deb and I drove over to Point Loma, a peninsula across the bay from San Diego. We went to see the famous tide pools on the western side but I ended up spending more time photographing the Rosecrans National Cemetery, which is located there, than I did anything else.

I have always been drawn to cemeteries as photographic subjects though I don't often share the pictures I take there. Military cemeteries are especially compelling, in part because they are symbols of sacrifice and in part because of the symmetry, color and geometry that draw my eye.

Beyond all of this, though, the most striking thing to me about the Rosecrans National Cemetery is that it is full. After putting 110,000 soldiers to rest, this cemetery has no more vacancies. Maybe once the military cemeteries all fill up we could find less violent ways to resolve our differences. . . . ?

Canon 5DIII 1/750s f/11.0 ISO250 98mm

12-10-12 The Little Angel

I wandered into one of our community's cemeteries today in search of photo opportunities and I ended up visiting the little angel that graces a 1911 grave site. I have photographed her before but I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures.She seems obvlious to the cold and snow that embrace her. . .

Pacific View

This post has more personal meaning than it does photographic value. It is a quick shot I took of the display for my Aunt Betty at her recent memorial service in California. The cemetery is called Pacific View and though the Pacific ocean isn't visible in this photo, it is visible from Betty and Cliff's niche.Pacific view has conventional graves, as John Waynes' proves. But this cemetery has several buildings with walls of niches. We don't have anything like this in South Dakota and I'm not sure why. We have more space? Is is cultural? I've not read it but I just put The American Way of Death, Revisited on my reading list. Maybe I would get some answers there. . . .

A Little Prayer

For the first time in two years, I have updated my blog's look. I've been contemplating a change for a while but fear of the unknown kept me at bay. When you change themes in blogs, all of the photos have to be resized, hopefully by an automated process. And who knows what you'll get?But it looks like things are working, though if you aren't using a 21st century web browser, you may have problems. Let me know if you do.Here are a few of the changes:

• A more user friendly interface with links to older and similar posts
• An ability to purchase prints through a pro lab
• An interface that works great on iPads, iPods and iPhones (no javascript!!)
• And a nice slide show at the top of the page

Those who have been reading my blog for years will probably hate what I've done. But I'm not going back. . . . 

The Old, Rugged Tree

While visiting California recently, I wandered over to a cemetery near my aunt's house. It was a cemetery unlike anything in my home state - large mausoleums with drawers for the remains of loved ones. And there were no above-ground tomb stones.The most striking feature was the landscape and trees, most of which were kinds I didn't recognize. I'm guessing this tree, which is framed by the colored class walls of mausoleum vestibule, is older than the cemetery. Is is a banyan tree? I don't know.

The Little Angel - Another View

I have posted this angel before but came across a series of photos I had taken in 2002. So I thought I'd posted a different point of view.

Grief

I have 53,319 photos in my primary digital photo library. These are photos I have taken between 2002 and the present. I don't expect you to be impressed with this number - I'm not sure I am. I think many of these photos should be discarded.But, because I run out of things to post here, I am happy I have so many photos because it allows me to "throw a dart" when I'm stymied. Today, I randomly picked photos from May, 2009, and this one jumped out at me. It was taken at the amazing Mirogoj cemetery in Zabreb, Croatia. I wish I could tell you more about this monument but I can't.I can tell you that I like the woman's gentle demeanor and that I also like the great bokeh in the backround. Finally, I like the fact that the background is in color and that the woman seems to be in tones of sepia, which seems appropriate for a stoney figure mourning in a graveyard.

The Aged Angel

To me cemeteries are always photographically interesting and I think that this blog is evidence of that. This angel is one of the first things I photographed in Mt. Hope cemetery in Watertown, SD. As you can see, the angel is worn by time and covered in part by dark lichen. And she is engaged in quiet prayer every time I visit her.(Click HERE to see other cemetery posts in this blog.)

11-11-09 A Snowy Blanket

I drove through the cemetery this past January after a fresh blanket of snow. I have always been fascinated by the arrangement of the monuments in the military section of cemeteries. At the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Watertown, there are monuments that date back to the 19th century, and many wars are represented by the veterans buried here.