Saturday 7 February 2009

The Retreat from Moscow - # 09/18

As we moan and complain about our cars getting stuck on our modern roads in snow, it's appropriate, in my opinion, to remember how fortunate we are and that even in the 1930s there were still many, many roads that looked like this track across Richmond Park. What have we lost? What have we gained?

It's not surprising that Napoleon, and after him, Hitler, had a problem. I'm glad I wasn't there. I'm pleased every time I see a helicopter and a heavy haulage machine.

17 comments:

  1. Interesting that you should mention Napoleon and Hitler. The picture made me think immediately of a famous photo of another European campaign in Crimea

    Valley of Death

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  2. the link in the previous comment isn't too clear

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  3. Gosh, the width of vista on this photograph is amazing.That's some lens you have there, Chuckeroon.

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  4. @Richard....it's clear enough to me. I was once slightly lost in the middle of nowhere in the Ukraine. Plenty of diesel and a good Mitsubishi jeep, but no sun to navigate by. I felt extremely uneasy (on my own scale of un-easiness, which is fairly well controlled)and all sorts of images passed through my imagination.

    @Jilly....yes, it's the neat little Olympus 9 - 18 mm F 4.0 super-wide. Zooms are great, but wides also open up many opportunities. This is a cute little lens. It is also only half the weight of equivalent super-wides...a real bonus!

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  5. @Richard....need one point out that the "small boulders" are in fact cannon balls, lying thick and all concentrated on the spot! Gallant Six Hundred!!!!

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  6. Chuckeroon - there is suggestion that Roger Fenton gathered all the cannon balls and placed them there for "effect". (Must've been a tough job on his own). An early example of manipulating the media? Maybe - no one knows the truth but it has fed debates about truth and photojournalism ever since

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  7. BTW I like the photo. Has a painterly, Constable feel about it. I thought I might like the horizon raised or lowered but the equal empty sky and blasted heath work well

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  8. @Richard.....there was a solitary figure which cld have improved things, but by the time I was in position he was too close so I let him pass.

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  9. Although it feels cold and raw, I like this photo a lot. I like your color choice as well. I don't know that I would have liked BW nearly as well.
    All the "lens talk" leaves me thinking I don't know a darn thing about photography!
    V

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  10. V, you know more than you think. I know I like his a lot. Sometimes that is all we need just to enjoy. This though is Ina sense for me your Waterloo.

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  11. J'aime beaucoup ce paysage avec ce ciel lisse et ce sol tourmenté qui se partagent la page en deux. On dirait une peinture étalée au couteau en bas sur une toile vierge.
    La retraite de Moscou ? Exactement. Ou le film "Alexandre Nevski" d'Eisenstein sur la musique de Prokofiev.
    Napoléon a fait beaucoup pour le réseau routier français, sais tu, il n'a pas seulement accompli des horreurs.
    Il y a aussi notre code civil.

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  12. ooooh - you had a lone figure and you LET HIM PASS?

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  13. What an interesting photo....quite an ugly mess isn't it?

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  14. Well, as expected, an Englishman's references to Napoleon go with different photos than those chosen by a Frenchman! :-) (I'm Swedish and neutral!) :-)

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  15. @Peter - Gustavus Adolphus wasn't very neutral, if a bit older.... of course the English needed the Russkies to soften up Napoleon first. And even then they needed the Prussians to help

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  16. Gustavus Adolphus was a real heroe! (That's what we learnt in school wheen I was a kid! ) :-)

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  17. @Richard and @Peter........deep sigh! I accept G.A. and the early Prussians into my pantheon of heroes.

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