Remembering family, friends, and all the soldiers and sailors who gave their life in service to this country and our ideals. #MemorialDay2020

I took this photo seven or eight years ago, soon after @MrMacnology @_tgr and @timlauer started talking about this new RX1 (which I thought was a Mazda, not a camera, so I looked it up and was intrigued).

I ended up splurging on one.

I had taken tens of thousands of photos at that point ( @liampickhardt running @CCTrackandField with my boys; traveling with @pipcorin; and conferences, lots and lots of conferences).

But...I am a very amateur, non-technical photographer and mainly just try to catch motion, facial expressions, and vibes that I like—usually on sports (dummy) mode. Even after splurging on the RX-1, I still kept it on auto (and it was spectacular; Sony fan since).

This night at the memorial, however, it was ~11pm. I had been standing near a name my dad (Marines veteran, Vietnam) had given me to find. I turned my head to the right and saw the light reflecting on the wall and wanted the shot, but it was too dark.

Quickly googled the how; set camera on ground (no tripod); ISO, aperture, and shutter at 30 seconds. In real life, I could barely see the two women in the foreground. I was astounded when I saw the full-size image.

My first technical image, at a site with personal import.