Black Stone in Beach Sand

[Maris]

Black Stone in Beach Sand
Gelatin-silver photograph on Ilford Classic FB VC photographic paper, image size 21.5cm X 16.3cm, from a 4x5 Kodak TXP negative exposed in a Tachihara 45GF field view camera fitted with a Nikkor-W 210mm f5.6 lens.

The stone is about a metre long and is easily as heavy as it looks. In composing this I thought about how symbolic power and simplicity can combine in a single view. The Japanese flag is a classic example.

[Mick Fagan]

Maris, this is simplicity and strength personified.

I'm not sure how you managed to get a wet rock and wet sand, but the combined effect is what grabs you. Were you standing in waves of water?

I agree with the comparison to the standard Japanese flag, so simple, yet so powerful.

Their military flags however are another thing. My father brought one back from WWII as a war prize, I got to see it every April when he unfolded it from his army bag. Growing up I always thought that military flag was their country flag, but the pictures coming from the Tokyo Olympics changed my understanding of the Japanese flag.

[Maris]

Thanks Mick for your kind comments. The stone and sand were in the wave zone and my tripod got wet feet; not timid me though.

Your Japanese flag comments reminded me that there are actually two Japanese flags. The civilian version, a red disc on a white field, is not controversial like the Rising Sun flag with its sixteen red rays. Elements of the Japanese military still use the Rising Sun flag and ignore criticism from countries that were occupied by Japanese Imperial forces in World War Two. Some in those countries still decry the "war crimes" flag.