Memorial Day

I decided to take a break from NY - too many photo festivals and drama - and head to Washington DC for Memorial Day. Mostly I wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery. I wanted to bring my Iraq experience back to the US. Something I haven't done since the anti-war protests in 2003. I never felt comfortable working in American concerning Iraq - working with wounded or traumatized vets, or the families of the KIA. I just never knew if I could do that. The first grave I came to - that I was taken by, a grave that stymied me - was the grave of MAJ Gregory Stone. The only soldier killed in the grenade attack in Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait in the opening days of the war in '03. I photographed him being carried out on a stretcher. I basically made my career, or at least started my career with his death. Today was the first time I thought about that. That my whole career is based on death. Kind of a selfish thing to think about during a day of remembrance. 

When David H. and I got to Arlington we didn't shoot for a few hours - but wandered through the tombstones looking at the ages of the Soldiers killed., the days they died. One died on the ides of March, another died 4 days before his 20th birthday. We sat in the shade under a tree until we decided it was time to shoot, until we got over the vulturesqe nature of making images in a place like Arlington. 

I ended up shooting a few pics - not too many - and was definitely removed from the grieving subjects. Though I did end up speaking to one woman - Amanda - the best friend of LCPL Jason Redifer. About how she still couldn't believe her friend was dead.

It was a weird day for me.