A Footnote in History

[jaapv]

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Geervliet, a small hamlet in Holland, has one of the small Jewish cemeteries in our country. After serving the small community there for centuries it was closed in 1940. But it is still kept neat and the stones are clean. To try and record my feelings I used IR photography. Summaron 3.5 cm 3.5, B&W 092 filter. Raw conversion using M8Hisat profile in C1LE, Whitebalance on the tombstones. No further processing. Tell me what you think and thank you for looking.

 

 

 

 

[stuny]

Jaap -

 

I very much like the angles, details and compositions, but for me the colors seem to detract; however that's just my taste.

[photophile]

I agree with Stu on this one...the subject does not match the approach. But art is the artists' minds' eye...interesting though. Best. C.

[jaapv]

I see what you mean, Stuart, but I disagree. The alternative would have been to convert to B&W, but that would not have expressed that atmosphere to me. These places have a very high emotional content to me, my family was decimated in the Holocaust, so I tried to "surrealize" it by the colour.

Anyway, I'm working this subject, so you'll be sure to see more in this thread - in regular colour and/or black and white - I'm pondering....

[biglouis]

Jaap

 

I have a different reaction to the other posters. I actually do not think much of infrared photography - it really does nothing for me and I often wonder why people even bother.

 

However, in this instance I think it works very well and you have captured a dreamlike feeling of tranquility in the subject. There is a subtext here which is to do with survival.

 

I personally would crop the first one differently. I would use the trunk of the tree in the foreground as your left hand edge and crop down to the height of the far trees. I think the result might have a more intimate feel. I would also alter the tilt in the final picture.

 

A fine group of pictures of a thought provoking subject, imho.

 

LouisB

[jaapv]

Thanks Louis

[jaapv]

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A more straightforward series:

 

Remembrance stones are still placed:

Another remembrance stone:

 

 

 

Even flowers sometimes, after 67 years...

 

 

 

But most graves are forgotten:

 

 

[gtmerideth]

Jaap,

A wonderfully worthwhile effort. I am referring to the IR series. The twist of the stones being more literal against the IR foliage is powerful. If I can be you, I might explore

desaturating the color to increase the power of the stones and find maybe more of the

dream like quality you are seeking.

 

Never the less, the photography is moving and creates a strong emotional impact. Is that not what we all seek? A fine effort.

gary

[Dirk Van der Herten]

Jaap,

 

You posted an intriguing series.

I often passed the region but never heard about this cemetery, nor about the village.

An occasion for a future discovery perhaps.

Concerning the colours of the first series I agree with Stuart, but of course taste are personal.

Your second series appeals much more to me.

I especially like the photo with the village houses in the background.

A small detail in the last image of the first series caught my attention, namely

the spelling of the name "Haas", with two consecutive alephs.

Since aleph is a consonant and not a vowel, this seems "Dutch Hebrew" to me.

What do you think?

 

Best,

 

Dirk

[jaapv]

A spelling mistake is quite possible. Of course somebody with the name "Haas" is possibly of very old German/Portuguese Dutch Jewish descent. It is likely their Hebrew was not very good to non-existent.

 

Thank you for your comment. I knew when posting that the IR shots would be controversial. I will add some other treatments of the subject later . i have some ideas...