Photojournalism is my first love which made entering into the "2011 People and Plant: Social Justice and Environment Diary" a natural. Over 4000 images were submitted into this competition representing 82 countries and 1000 photographers. Only 54 were to be selected. Yes, I am one of them.
The picture that was selected is "Beachside Memorial", a memorial constructed monthly by Veterans for Peace on the sand adjacent to the Santa Monica Peer - a place where families come to participate in the rides and shops and just have fun. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the two celebrations - life and death.
To accentuate the experience, I used a fisheye lens to draw attention to the coffins and high dynamic range (HDR) to create a sense of the coffins being lit from above. In a later blog I will discuss the use of different focal lengths of lenses and in an earlier one I have already discussed HDR photography.
I was delighted to get the news. Though this image was displayed on National Geographic's web site earlier this year, to have it in print in a socially conscious publication was quite the honour.
