What I did on 09/12/01

[LWW]

I am so glad I found this site as it has finally motivated me to digitize some of my work.

Some of the stuff I post may be judged as good and some not so good and I will actually agree with that but they have all meant something to me and I have tried to present everything in as pure a matter as possible.

This series ,as I get them digitized and cropped, was taken on September 12th, 2001.

Like many I was in an utter state of shock. As an American I was infuriated that a country as kind as ours had been treated so cruelly byt the very ones we had taken in and granted freedoms they could only dream of in their homeland.

As a human I was devastated by the inhumanity of humanity. As a history buff I had always wondered what it FELT like in the hearts and minds of Americans the day after Pearl Harbor or the Maine, now I knew and wished I had never wanted to know.

As a veteran and a Patriot I strangely felt a little guilty[that for reasons I didn’t understand I had been spared nor at 43 with an artificial joint could I be a part of the group that would avenge the loss of my countrymen. I could feel the winds of war in the air stronger than at any time in my life.

As I write this I recall some of the emotions of hurt and anger wanting vengeance that I had tucked away for these last 4 years.

In any event I took the next day and sought solace and guidance from the ghosts of generations past who had faced similar challenges in their own times.

I hope my work on that day can convey some of the emotion to the viewer today.

This is a tribute to area veterans of the US Civil War in Downtown Dayton.

LWW

 

[LWW]

This is the Spanish American War Memorial.

LWW

 

[LWW]

These two...

are both...

monuments to World War I.

LWW

 

[LWW]

This is from the Korean War Monument complex and in the background shows the Bank One Building which vaguely resembles one of the twin towers of the WTC...

this is also from the same complex...

and this is the Korean War Monument itself, also with the Bank One Building in the background and of course the flag at half mast.

LWW

 

[LWW]

This is the local Armed Forces Memorial...

and this is the flag at respectful half mast.

LWW

 

['Daniel']

As an American I was infuriated that a country as kind as ours had been treated so cruelly byt the very ones we had taken in and granted freedoms they could only dream of in their homeland.

I understand that you feel strong emotions about what happened and I think you are just in doing so but I think that you need to read up on the world a bit more if you think America is a kind country now and if you think it was unprovoked and I don't understand see how you can call yourself a history buff if you think America have been kind in the past. It's also ironic that in a post where you say they are kind that you post a picture of a monument of the Korean war where the U.S. engaged in germ warfare.

I think photograpically this is a great series but in my opinion the sentiments behind it are mislead.

 

[CleeM.]

^^Well put. Good pictures tho.

 

[aprilraven]

daniel, last time i checked, this was about photography..not politics, cause i dang sure would love to tell you what i think...this is twice that i have held my tongue..hope i can keep it up..

lww....these are great.. i love the black and white color, and the respect you show our boys and men is commendable...thank you.

 

['Daniel']

All Propoganda is art, some art is propoganda.

Photography is not just pictures, these cover a subject and I think it's fair to discuss the subject as well.

 

[LWW]

Daniel I feel as if you wish to make it into a political rather than a photographic discussion as well.

I included my feelings solely because they were the feelings which motivated them. Your opinion of their validity made no difference in the shooting of the work.

My only comment to your retort is that I sacrificed a large part of 6 years of my life, and many sacrificed much more, to give you the kindness of the great nation in which you live and to grant you the ability, without fear of government reprisal, to state your feelings.

My work posted here was not propaganda, it was the emotion of one person, myself, expressed thru photographs, if you wish to post work of your own which demonstrates your feelings I will show it due respect whether I agree with it or not.

May we now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

LWW

 

[fightheheathens]

photography is about expressing the emotion of the photographer.


read JonMikals sig. i think it explains it all.

 

[anicole]

LWW ... great shots. Personally, I feel a lot of emotion any time I see a monument, memorial, etc.

As for the rest, our borders offer the FREEDOM and the KINDNESS to let people go OUT of them UNPROVOKED at any time, too, Daniel.

(sorry, LWW ... some things just can't be ignored.)

 

[LWW]

Thanks for the kind words anyway...

...photography to me is a relaxation, and like you I feel great emotion whenever I'm in the presence of things like this.

That being said this and my trip thru Pennsylvania, Gettysburg and Yorktown, are the only times in my life I have felt compelled...almost as if the pictures found ME to take them instead of me finding them to take.

I wish I could put it in words better than those.

LWW

 

[MDowdey]

alright kids, it was fun while it lasted. If you want to turn it into political banter, then by all means take it somewhere else other than this forum.


ADMINISTRATION

 

[LWW]

These were taken the same day, above is the plaque for Cpl Tony Stein on the bridge named in his honor. Cpl Stein received the CMOH during the battle of Iwo Jima...

this is the centerpiece of the memorial in his honor...

...and this is a full view of the monument...

...and this is the local Viet Nam War Memorial.

Thanks for viewing.

LWW