Images of the Heart

I could not decide between these two images. In my mind, they go together and after I saw them, I could not separate them. They feel connected, or maybe it is just that they connected themselves in my heart, either way they are staying. I don’t know how many of you have seen this image personally, have stood beside or behind a soldier’s casket as his life was finishing in the final burial. I have. Not in the same manner, no. My soldier was my grandfather. He died after a full life and service to our country whereas this man died in the prime of his life, but it is similar. It is a soldier’s burial.

These photos present a very sad argument; the one of an ending of life and the tears of those who were left behind. Just looking at the images brings up sadness, even if the soldier in the casket is not known. And you can tell, right off the bat, that the body is a soldier. Just from the light they are in, the somber mood and the presentation of the Flag’s colors. Each photo provides a sharp contrast; the rose against the white of the gloves and the sand sprinkled over them and the casket with the man in dress blues against the white room. In this the photos contrast their messages. Even though the images are so sad, so tearful, they also present a subtle hope for the future. They are lit by a bright light, which I take to mean the hope.

These images, when presented, can do a lot. I believe they will be used to enforce political opinion, share grief, show tragedy, and present hope. The images can be used for anything, as long as the correct words are placed behind them. That is the magic with photos…any view can be expressed with any photo that holds the correct atmosphere as these two do.

* Pulitzer awarded to photographer Todd Heisler of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo.