Apart from the crowd
by markmulkerin

Comment by BikeRacer:
i like the idea of what you were trying to do here, but imo, it's just too dark. also, color seems off.

Apart from the crowd
by markmulkerin

Comment by pentaxian:
It's just too dark for me. If I could see the details in the ppers better and if the entire red one was visable I would have scored it higher

Where once there was laughter, rain erodes rock
by markmulkerin

Comment by markmulkerin:
A poem to accompany the photo:

Where once there was laughter, rain erodes rock -
surrogate tears for nearby mother's grief
buried heart and breast decaying or decayed
shudders of woe long cease.

Yet in this row, silenced children cue
ribcages once possessing blood and gush and laugh and sigh
no own stale air, dust, vacancy.

Time, that slathering beast, that pilferer,
that ravaging foe, that unbiased judge,
takes all - less perhaps faith.

White man's burden or tyrant's charm ...
by markmulkerin

Comment by markmulkerin:
Thanks for your comments everyone. I guess it is time to clear up the questions. Yes, it is a machine gun (specifically, a machine gun on a WWII era British tank that would have been stationed in Hong Kong to keep Hong Kong British). Yes, my overexposure and tight focus on the muzzled end was intentional - I was hoping to give the impression of what it might look like to someone from the wrong end of it. I guess for some it worked, for most it didn't.

White man's burden - the short answer is a 19th century Imperial British notion that it was the duty of civilized people (meaning British) to lift the ignorant heathens (meaning anyone not white) from the quagmire of their pathetic lives (meaning not Victorian England) even if they didn't want help (meaning we will save them even if it means killing them all). The term, I believe, was coined by Ruyard Kipling as part of a glowing praise poem to British Imperial power.

Thank goodness we are past that stage in our history and don't invade countries to install regimes that follow proper capitalist/democratic values (I won't argue whether or not Iraq would be better as a real democracy, but the picture should suggest what the US soldiers look like to some locals).

Apart from the crowd
by markmulkerin

Comment by fotodude:
great idea nice image some backround issues off to the left cornor but not a prob. in my mind-GL

White man's burden or tyrant's charm ...
by markmulkerin

Comment by graphicfunk:
returning for comment:
A lerthal authority. Good composition. Bumping to 6.

North by Northeast
by markmulkerin

Comment by Travis99:
excellent, would have liked it a little better if it was not cropped so much.

The Truth About Grading
by markmulkerin

Comment by Natator:
Yup, all the time *laugh* Nice capture, and heaps of fun.

White man's burden or tyrant's charm ...
by markmulkerin

Comment by Art Roflmao:
I am at a loss. I thought it was a machine gun barrel but reading the title - just not getting it. ...is it an empty toilet paper roll? that's a burden. :-?

Milk warming, black clouds roiling ...
by markmulkerin

Comment by alonzo4b:
nice shot.