Jeff Sasek wrote a beautiful poem for this photograph:
"Forgiven, Not Forgotten"
Stained with tearful good-byes
lays a passport of old.
Worn and torn by the years,
evidence of a story untold.
It seems his ambitions ever
kept him on the move,
leaving behind a lover's
hopeless desire to prove.
He continually heeded success's call.
Heartbroken, she always remained.
Now, his only proof of existance
is captured behind an iron restraint.
A token of observation in
a museum where memories are begotten,
lies his tattered passport.
He is forgiven, not forgotten.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The title is from a song by the Corrs, my favourite band. I found it to fit the mood.
The image has been taken in Sientzheim, Germany in a technical museum. They had lots of tanks and planes and rockets which would have fitted the challenge perfectly, but I found this to be much more interesting.
For those who will tell me that people are not to be the main subject of this challenge: This is not an image of a person. This is a photograph of a passport containing a photograph of a person. This is to create distance between the viewer and the man in the picture. I want to show how little such a passport means to a visitor of the museum and how much it would have meant to the man's (hypothetic) wife. The distance is stressed by the heavy iron bar which impedes anyone from recovering the passport, and by the effects of time on this last proof for that man's existence: the sand and the torn paper.
And no, I don't expect anyone to see the same things in this image as I do.
Post Processing (in PSP9)
USM 1,50/100/0
USM 50/25/0 (for contrast)
HSL to desaturate (-20)
Levels (18/1/213)
crop
resize
I chose not to sharpen again after resizing, since I found the softer look to add to the mood.
Statistics
Place: 44 out of 453 Avg (all users): 5.7216 Avg (commenters): 6.6000 Avg (participants): 5.5374 Avg (non-participants): 5.9365 Views since voting: 1269 Views during voting: 355 Votes: 273 Comments: 11 Favorites: 0
This is a passport of a Frenchman issued under the Nazi regime. This means that he has either been forced to work for them, or has collaborated with them. The title of the picture was ill-chosen, it doesn't reflect my thoughts on it very well, the word forgiven does not really fit to anyone involved.
The fact that this passport lies in the museum suggests that it was not possible to return it to his relatives, or that there were none.
And no, he is not famous.
I don't understand the significance of the passport. It is clearly German, but was the man a war criminal, or a short order cook? Is he famous? Am I supposed to recognize this man? Why should I choose to or not to forgive this man? What has he done that he needs forgiveness?
Thank God, these items outlived their "usefulness". I wonder if many voters will see your point of view. Forgotten? NO, not by me, but I think a lot of youngsters need to be reminded. Forgiven? actually no either and the world hasn't learned one bit, has it. I'll rate it a 9.
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