Photo of the Week 2025-07-28

 

Guelph recently held it's Downtown Community Garage Sale and I decided to go even though it was a very hot and humid day. You never really know what you might find at events like this.

 

While I did find a few photography related items, lens caps, camera strap, lens rest beanbag etc., I also found George a military Veteran. He was selling some military memorabilia and we struck up a conversation ...

 

... what does this have to do with photography, my journey and this weeks photo? Well stay with me here. Upon return home, Lynn asked how the event was. I told her i picked up a few little photo items and met this really nice guy George (last name withheld here). That was when she got that look in her eye and I showed her the business card he had given me. She said there was a family by that name on the street where she grew up. A few clicks of her phone later she was asking "is this him?". Lo and behold, she knew him and his family from her childhood days.

 

I reached out to the email address on his card and said "small world" then explained. A few days later we were downtown for a meet up for coffee with George and his wife. Lots of stories and anecdotes from back in the day were exchanged and our conversation about military history continued. We share an interest, kindled by different fires but with lots of common ground.

 

After the exchange of contact information, a txt here, email there, I was digging through my photos of Holland from 2019 looking for one to George and came across this previously unprocessed, unpublished image from my night in Nijmegen.

 

' The (Night) Crossing '

In Nijmegen, Netherlands, there is a bridge to commemorate 48 US Airborne Soldiers killed in the crossing of the Rhine, Sept 20, 1944. Every evening a Dutch Veteran, along with many to accompany them, will march across to a memorial on the other side in tribute to those fallen.

It was a privilege to make the march when I visited in 2019. This image is from my solo trek back across to my car after the sun had set. Made with the venerable Canon EOS M5 and that lovely 24MP sensor that responds so well to my processing. Noise reduction and little else applied to this capture.

 

And there you have it. A friendship rekindled, A memory rekindled. An image found.

 

DJE