On Sunday January 10th 1915, 703 men of the 11th Battalion 'were marched up to the pyramid, Old Cheops, and had their photo taken, most of the men were unidentified and it is likely that it is the last photograph of many of them'. I find everything about this iconic image by photographer unknown compelling.. I wanted to cut in a bit closer to show detail but found it impossible to even think about cropping any of these men out of the picture and although some are partly hidden by the reflection at the top, they are still there! To see more detail and you really should, pull the image in closer..
The hope of the 11th Battalion Cheop Project is that by dividing the image into grid sections, each soldier having a cropped and zoomed image, to be able to identify as many of the men as is possible by the 10th of January 2015 the centenary of the day the photograph was taken. If you look at the grid picture here it shows WHITE 'unidentified soldiers.. YELLOW 'identified but yet to be 100% verified.. GREEN 'identified and verified'.. soldiers who died in action, through wounds or sickness are marked with a poppy. It moves me to see this group of young men posing here unknowing the fate that awaits them.. Happy Sunday, take care and stay safe.. p.s. isn't it the most amazing image!
I think it's a great project, but rather poignant and quite sad. That terrible war took so many men ... and like all wars leaves us with the question, what the hell for?
ReplyDeleteQuite a setting for the original photo shoot... and quite a challenge to identify these men.
ReplyDeleteA worthy endeavor.
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking and sad to lose so many young men and I find myself asking the same question -- when do the wars stop and when do those in government stop looking for excuses to start them and find other answers to the problems????
ReplyDeleteA sad but worthy project, Grace!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!
ReplyDeleteVery poignant. War is truly a terrible thing.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it make you wonder how many of them survived? I mean, 1915 so that's three years to go... It's a lovely project!
ReplyDeleteAlmost a century ago...and still we go on fighting and killing each other....
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing photo of those men.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a sobering image, but a generous project.
ReplyDeleteYes. Deeply moving. Australia is the home of heroic people.
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3
It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteVery moving shot! I hope someone will be able too give back an identity to each of them ..
ReplyDeleteThat photo is amazingly clear even when stretched to get a closer look. It's a very moving story and a wonderful project.
ReplyDeleteThat sort of thing makes me very emotional, but the photo is very clear. Not really that long ago and people are still fighting!
ReplyDeleteOff to the UK on Tuesday for a fortnight so contact will be minimal. Have a great Christmas and wishing you everything of the best for 2015. Diane xx
That is such a great tribute for war victims... Thanks for them.
ReplyDeleteOh, just to imagine what happened makes me sad. War. So unnecessary and yet there always, somewhere...
ReplyDeleteA incredibly complex project, I'm sure! I hope the organizers meet the deadline but no matter what I think it's worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteMany went to the 'valley of death' for us. They sit not knowing their fates. Many surely would wear poppies.
ReplyDeleteOld pictures like that make me wonder about their lives
ReplyDeleteand those from their family. Want to know then what
happened to them. But I can only guess...
Have a fine day
【ツ】Knipsa
I had seen that photo in the the newspaper not long ago and thought that it was a wonderful project to try and identify all those soldiers.
ReplyDeleteFrom the grided photo there are still a lot of unidentified soldiers, and a lot with poppies...