Time To Reflect ...

For this week's Sunday Challenge, for which we were asked to go back to basics:

Either use a non-zoom or set your lens to 35 or 50mm only, camera to ISO100, and lets see something SOOC, no crop, no post pro, just like in the old days of film, or even use ISO100 film, mono or colour. The only post processing allowed will be your watermark-signature.

To meet the challenge I used the 18-105mm kit lens that came with my Nikon D90 set to 50mm. I couldn't select ISO 100 as such because the D90 only goes down to ISO 200, so I had to select Lo 1.0, which apparently equates to ISO 100.

For my subject I decided to go with this thought provoking and imposing piece of art called Eleven 'O' One (11:01) which can be found near the Terrace Green cenotaph in Seaham, Country Durham.

Known locally as 'Tommy' the statue was built using special CorTen steel, an alloy material originally produced by United States Steel. This corrosion resistant steel when left uncoated develops an outer layer patina that protects the steel from additional corrosion and gives the statue its distinct appearance.

Standing 9ft 5ins tall, it weighs 1.2 tonnes and was created to mark the centenary of the start of the Great War by artist Ray Lonsdale.

Looking decidedly war-weary 'he' sits thoughtfully, head bowed, rifle in hand, as he reflects upon the sheer horror of World War One during the first minute after peace was declared in 1918, which is where the official name comes from.

Apparently, the sculpture is also intended to represent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which many of the returning soldiers endured even though at that time the condition was little understood and was simply referred to back then as "shell shock" as it was attributed to concussions caused by the impact of exploding shells.

Shell shock was characterized by "the dazed, disoriented state many soldiers experienced during combat or shortly thereafter". And when soldiers who were not exposed to exploding shells were found to be experiencing similar symptoms it was assumed that these soldiers were cowardly and weak.

Treatment was brief, consisting only of a few days of comfort, with the "firm expectation that the soldier return to duty" and because 65% of shell-shocked soldiers ultimately returned to the front lines, treatment was considered a success.

Anyone who wants to know more about the installation and the artist behind it might like to read the following article, which was published in the local press shortly after the statue was put in place:

www.thejournal.co.uk/news/news-opinion/sculptor-ray-lonsdale-reveals-story-7374302

A tricky challenge I found as I missed the flexibility that being able to change the SO can give you and it also made me realise how much I rely on post-processing to tweak my shots and supposedly bring out the best in them even down to the fine border that I always add, but which I've managed to resist doing here ... even if how the photo merges into the white background really, really annoys me!