Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Faces of Washington


Don't worry, this is NOT a rant about the government shutdown!

It's time for my contribution to Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge, and this week's theme is "faces". Since I haven't painted faces for a very long time, I can't show you anything here. So I had to think of a different approach to this challenge - and I came up with this.


Abraham Lincoln is probably one of the most famous faces in Washington, one of the most visited (not at the moment, though - but we didn't want to go there, right?). But there are also other faces on display - faces full of pain, sorrow, terror and heroism.

Like the men fighting in the Korean War.



The men of Iwo Jima


Not even faces anymore - just names, ten thousands of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.


The guards who honor the fallen soldiers who don't have faces and no names either - the unknown soldier.


And the woman who helped finding missing soldiers, giving a face to a name.


After all this gloom, there are also other faces. Faces of hope, but where the gloom is still visible. This dad who with his two sons makes music on buckets in the streets of Washington. Despite the rain they attracted big crowds with their rhythms that were so different from their environment at the National Mall.



10 comments:

Diane said...

What a great idea for the theme. Well done! Thanks for the blog visit too.

Anonymous said...

great post!

Elephant's Child said...

A brilliant approach. And I love the variety of faces, and moods, you have captured.

Our photos said...

Beautiful photos of the faces of Washington !
Greetings, RW & SK

Shelinwa said...

OH I love this post!!! I have never been there and seen this. Thank you for posting!!

Sally H said...

Wonderful photos, Carola! I particularly love the one of Lincoln

Magic Love Crow said...

Great post! I have been to Washington once. Love the photos!

LONDONLULU said...

These are all wonderful "portraits"! I have never quite looked at DC in this way, I love it:)

Darla said...

A clever entry for the challenge. Your photos are stunning, they give such life to the statues too.

Darla

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a great perspective on the monuments. I'm always looking for new ways to photograph things like this.
I'm actually off to D.C. this weekend for work, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to visit monuments.
rinda