These photos are from a recent college trip to the battlefields in Belgium and France. I took all the photos with a digital camera and they haven't been photo shopped (only cropped/rotated on a different program). The pictures together show the resilience of humanity, how despite the horrors of the past we continue on and live our lives regardless, but still remember. They shows how humans still have the capacity for love despite also having the capacity to inflict such horrors on each other.
This first picture is of part of a panel on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. The names are of some soldiers who died in the war but whose bodies were never found. Ninety years after the end of the war people are still visiting this memorial and placing poppies next to the names of the soldiers they have some connection to, perhaps a family member or someone who lived in their area. I think this shows how the war has echoed down the years and after all this time people still remember and feel sorrow at the deaths. It shows that the sadness still lingers and that the soldiers' names that are engraved are not forgotten, even though the soldiers themselves are long gone. I think it also casts a positive angle on human nature, that people care about those who died years ago despite the time that has passed and despite an immediate personal connection with the deceased.
I don't know if you can read the writing on the graves, but at the bottom of the grave in the middle it says: "The French are a grand nation worth fighting for. Alf's letter 22.3.16" This letter was written under four months before Alf died on the first day of the battle of the Somme and shows that he thought that he was fighting for a worthwhile cause. It shows that, despite the horrors of the war, he still believed the war was worth fighting. The plants that are now growing around his grave show that the France he was fighting for has returned... nature has taken back the land where so many died.
This photo was taken standing by the wall at one edge of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, looking through the arches across to the other side. I did not realise someone was standing there until I had taken the photo. It shows the sheer scale of the war, and how just one person seems insignificant compared to this. I think it also shows the amount of history behind humankind today, and how small we are compared to the thousands before us who have died to get us to where we are today.
This (and the one below it) was taken at Vimy Ridge, which was where hundreds of Canadian soldiers fought, were injured and died. A memorial has since been built to commemorate the lost, and the figure shown here represents Mother Canada. The woman is looking out over the ridge and the land beyond it where her children died and wiping a tear from her eye. The emotion here is sorrow.
As above, this is of the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge. However the view here is from behind the statue, looking over the land where hundreds fought. I think the photo shows both the sorrow of the figure, but also shows hope. In the background villages and towns can be seen, as well as cars and roads. This shows how life can reuse the land and normal life can continue in such a sorrow-filled place. It shows how, despite the sorrows and horrors of the past, humans are resilient and will remember, but most importantly will continue their lives.
This picture was taken walking back from the memorial at Vimy Ridge, walking down a path lined with trees. Woods can be seen in the background, and there the trenches could still be seen. I think this picture shows hope - the trees still reach into the air and, although the sun is setting, they offer a promise of a new day and of the continuation of life. These trees were not standing ninety years ago, they have grown since then and so show how life continues, how even the horrors of war, despite still lingering on, can't stop life progressing.
Unfortunately the battery on my camera was running very low during this trip otherwise I would have a lot of other photos I could have entered.
[Edit: I hope I have done a good enough job of explaining the photos... feel free to ask anything if you have any questions and I might add more at a later date.]
Post edited at 7:34 am on Dec. 28, 2008 by Arguia
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We beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
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