Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com

A   S C R A P B O O K   O F   S O L U T I O N S   F O R   T H E   P H O T O G R A P H E R

Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.

Veterans Day    

11 November 2020

So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote in Slaughterhouse-Five as the story moved from one episode to the next. The nation, as well, is moving on a week after Biden's election as president. And so it goes for us, too, as we take a break from our regular routine to stand and applaud those who served their country in uniform.

One of the hazards of taking a daily constitutional with a camera is the march is often interrupted by one compelling composition or another. It was no different for us on Monday when we came across this new flag, its fold marks not flown out yet, hanging against the bright blue sky.

When we looked up, though, we were struck by the accommodating position the moon had taken alongside the flag. We had to get that in. And so, a shot that would naturally be taken as a vertical became a horizontal composition.

'Where are all the stars?'

That, though, cropped out the stars. So it goes.

Stars and stripes aren't just symbols of the states and colonies on our flag. Stripes run up the sleeves and stars sit on the shoulders of our military uniforms, too.

Those stripes and those stars have defended us throughout our history, most impressively lately when military leaders have refused to let the troops be used as the president's toy soldiers against the civilian population.

That service we especially honor today.

It reminds us of a day many years ago now when we were sitting on a dock at Tomales Bay with the veteran whose plight we mentioned last year (and whose situation remains unimproved) and our youngest brother.

A blue sky above us, my brother asked, "Where are all the stars?"

Where are those beacons of hope in the night? Where are the generals? Where are the electoral votes of the states in the election? Where are the stars of our flag flying before the moon we alone have reached?

"Where are all the stars?" he wondered.

"They're there in the day, too," our veteran reminded him.

And we all laughed. Sure, they are. We just can't see them in the blitz of daylight and tweets. But they're there, still there, faithfully there.

So it goes.

BackBack to Photo Corners

Text and Images Copyright © by . All rights reserved.