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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 185: Wide... Outside (hosted by Jerry Curtis) >> Challenge 185: Exhibition > edit image
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29-SEP-2007 Helen Betts

Beacon
9th Place

by Helen Betts

Arlington, Virginia

Taken at the Air Force Memorial.

This is one of three enormous steel monoliths rising 270 above the ground; the shape is meant to convey the Thunderbirds' "bomb-burst maneuver," with only three contrails depicted so as to represent the "missing man formation" used in Air Force funeral flyovers. They are filled two-thirds of the way up with concrete and have 1-ton lead balls in the top sections to prevent vibration. For more images of the memorial, see http://www.pbase.com/helenpb/image/86440027 and the three images that follow.

Sony DSC-H5
1/320s f/7.1 at 6.2mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Daniel Bollag28-Jan-2009 12:36
Lovely, and well composed indeed! -- db.
JolieO 28-Jan-2009 00:26
This is wonderful-it reminded me of the arch in St Louis too (I used to live there). Really good exposure that holds the highlights very well. Lovely silvery color and magnificent shape and nothing else but the blue, blue sky. Great image.
Jolene
Katherine Stanback's Photos28-Jan-2009 00:25
Wonderful composition - I love the lighting and shiny metallic color against the blue sky!
Sony Forums Challenges25-Jan-2009 16:42
Helen, I love this shot...the simple, monolithic form, ...the colors...the sense of texture. It looks like it could go on forever. Nice one! MFC
Guest 19-Jan-2009 21:38
Wow, what a cool shot! At first I thought it was half of the St. Louis Gateway Arch :-) Very nice indeed!
Jerry Curtis13-Jan-2009 23:45
Great job on this piece, Helen. One of the strengths of WA is to exaggerate distances, and it sure shows in this shot.
Helen Betts12-Jan-2009 19:49
Thanks, Michael. I'm certain it's great architecture! In fact, they are incredibly difficult to photograph (well, for me, anyway). I have put an explanation above that I should have included in the first place.
michael7312-Jan-2009 19:38
Not sure if this is good photography or good architecture! But it looks three miles high!