JPG Magazine: Photos: "The End" by Mr. T

The End

By Mr. T

On 7 April 2008

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The End

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2 second exposer at 4am inside a Chinook Helicopter with shadows of the saluting soldiers

116 Responses

On 7 April 2008 Mrs T gave props:
So powerful in so many ways. Wonderful image.
On 8 April 2008 Joel Aron gave props:
doood. insane shot. world class image. quiet, and chaotic. beautiful.
On 8 April 2008 Rachel McKinnie gave props:
Wow...
On 8 April 2008 Frédéric Frognier gave props:
Powerful shot, T.
On 8 April 2008 Nova Lamela gave props:
Very powerful and thought provoking, WOW!
On 8 April 2008 John Linton gave props:
Rest in Peace. An emotional shot that must have been hard to take.
On 8 April 2008 |M|att |A|damik gave props:
Wow is right... Very Powerful Image! Excellently done.
On 8 April 2008 "Peggy.Sue" Harrington gave props:
Brilliant. Powerful. Everything about this is superb.
On 8 April 2008 Trey Hill said:
wow. beyond moving... the quality of light in the long exposure really amplifies the somber feeling.

so, what's the story? how did you get access?
On 8 April 2008 Sarah Keating said:
wow - i thought this was jeremiah ridgeways picture for a second - awesome pic
On 8 April 2008 Polly Cole said:
i love seeing this as our government thinks it is in our best interest that we don't. i think it's important. human.
On 8 April 2008 Natalie S gave props:
Incredibly Emotional - Makes me think of an Eddy Vedder song verse ". . .and with his life he's saying no more war . . ."
On 9 April 2008 Amanda Means gave props:
Thanks for sharing such an amazing and powerful image!! This should be the TIME magazine picture of the year!!!
On 9 April 2008 Melanie Freeman gave props:
God bless him/her for serving our country! May he/she rest in peace.
On 9 April 2008 |M|att |A|damik said:
I thought I'd share that this image has stuck with me since I saw it yesterday morning. It's so epic & powerful on so many levels. It should be a Life Magazine cover. It's a true high impact symbol of the consequences of Iraq that everyone should see.
On 9 April 2008 Joe Lowe said:
amazing shot
On 10 April 2008 Brian Jones said:
no no no...Americans can't be allowed to see such things as flag-draped coffins because people might associate them with our brave dead soldiers rather than just a statistic crawling across the bottom of the nightly news.
great shot...thxs for sharing!
On 10 April 2008 Malindi Powers said:
congrats on making photo of the week!
On 10 April 2008 Dustin Werstler gave props:
Very striking; the lighting garnered from the long exposure certainly adds to the effect.
On 10 April 2008 Trey Hill said:
congrats on being photo of the week, man.
On 10 April 2008 Demetrios Soutsos gave props:
A great tribute as well as a great photograph.
On 10 April 2008 David Piearcy said:
This is an especially poignant image for me. My mother, a Navy veteran has just passed away. Yesterday we received her internment flag. Being raised in a military family, this type of photo always touches me deeply.
The image itself is extremely powerful. The two linear shadows in the sand remind me of sentry's at their post.
Well captured.
On 10 April 2008 Federico Bazzi said:
Very very very powerful ! ! !
On 10 April 2008 Michael Korchia said:
impressive.
On 10 April 2008 Dave Potts said:
excellent and powerful Mr T.
On 10 April 2008 Paul Lavallee gave props:
speachless...
On 10 April 2008 Linda Sharpton said:
This is by far one of the most powerful photographs I've seen on the JPG site since joining.
On 10 April 2008 Cora D. Mitchell said:
very moving... this is brilliant!!!!
On 10 April 2008 mark weathers gave props:
thank you
On 10 April 2008 Mrs T gave props:
congrats on your "photo of the day" You deserve the recognition for all you bring to this community and for this powerful image.
On 10 April 2008 Janet Hickey said:
Heartbreaking...and therefore very very powerful. There's light at the end for the fallen; and they're flying now.
On 10 April 2008 Kat gave props:
There are no words.... very emotional photo.
On 10 April 2008 Scott Klarkowski said:
i love that the photograph leads to equal signs in the sand. i hate that i love this because of its content. great photograph!
On 10 April 2008 Brian Meister gave props:
Excellent photo.
On 10 April 2008 Zach Hoffman gave props:
Amazing photo!
On 10 April 2008 Pamela Hubbard gave props:
My emotions are welling. Wow, I am speechless. Excellent photo.
On 10 April 2008 Brad Paro said:
A very moving shot!
On 10 April 2008 Christopher Malcolm said:
Amazing!!!
On 10 April 2008 alex manea said:
Picture sox. what do you see so special on it? Where is the profesionalism in this? I´m sorry for you all but this is NOT a good picture. Look at the shaddow, look at the perspective and the angle...Come on !!!
On 10 April 2008 alex manea said:
I think if we had instead of the american flag , the Iraq flag, this picture didn´t had this impact. The flag on the coffin is the ONLY thing that give this picture some esence...I sow on this website better picture then this one, some of those are property of some of the people who said that this is a POWERFUL image...Anyway , is just a opinion.
On 10 April 2008 Mrs T said:
Alex, I could not disagree more with your comments above. I feel the technical aspects of this image add to its impact. As far as your implication that the centered composition ("angle" as you said) is bad, I feel it adds to the strong sense of isolation, calm, quiet, simple moment. Centered compositions have their time and place in art, and it works perfectly for this image. It is obviously intended by the artist and not just a lack of creativity.
On 10 April 2008 Jessica Hill gave props:
what powerful image. great job capturing it.
On 10 April 2008 Photo Girl said:
Photo of the Week... GREAT job !!!!!!!!
Love it.....
On 10 April 2008 Michael Van der Tol gave props:
I think Alex missed the mark - technically this is a challenging exposure and you executed it perfectly - revealing enough detail in the plane without blowing out the highlights in the background. For me the image is extremely powerful and anyone that has lost a friend or family member will feel the emotion in this shot. This image belongs on Time Magazine.
On 10 April 2008 Lauren Whitney said:
Such a powerful image...
On 10 April 2008 Devin Hayes gave props:
So, so, sad.. respectfully and beautifully done.
On 11 April 2008 Chicago Love gave props:
I agree with Michael. It's very moving and it should be on the cover of a magazine.
On 11 April 2008 Edyta Blaszczyk said:
that photo just leaves me breathless. it brings out so many emotions, i want to cry, i want to speak out. just amazing. great job.
On 11 April 2008 Laura Boston-Thek gave props:
No words...No words....beyond heart breaking for all us Americans, epecially ones who love soldiers. Great reminder to us all of the heavy price of freedom.
On 11 April 2008 Amanda Means gave props:
Way to go Josh!! Picture of the week!!! Just awsome!!!
On 11 April 2008 Laura Boston-Thek said:
Oh and for alex manea....when you have some images to share..then you can comment. This is a community and we do not treat each other with such disrespect.
On 11 April 2008 Henry Bowman gave props:
Powerful image. War is hell!
On 12 April 2008 Karen Zimmerman gave props:
Words are cheap. Your image speaks the language of the heart.
On 12 April 2008 Nancy Charter Kechnie Goatbe said:
Very memorable... and a lovely tribute...
On 12 April 2008 Eric Beauregard said:
To those that commented that the gov't doesn't want you to see this kind of image for reasons like Polly C mentioned - your thinking too much to the left. The reason the gov't doesn't show images of flag drapped coffins is out of respect for the deceased AND his/her family. How would you like to know that someone won a photography contest via a picture of your son/daughter's death? Maybe the family would like this photo - privately. As a Navy photographer, it's disturbing that this soldier/sailors death is fodder for this site for this reason. It's a poinant photo - not a great technical one.
On 12 April 2008 Mr. T said:
This response is for the comment above.
Its funny to me that another soldier has this to say about my photo. This was an Honor Guard competition and there wasn't anybody in the coffin and if there was I wouldn't have shown this image on JPG out of respect for the deceased and the family. I just wish Eric would have said what he didn't like technically about the photo and didn't quote Polly because she is an amazing photographer. I feel this image has a lot of emotion with out any bias. It is the viewer who makes there own story with the image. Thank you for looking and thank you for all these wonderful comments.
On 13 April 2008 Ari B gave props:
very expressive and touching image, a fave!
On 14 April 2008 Antonis Panitsas said:
The only think that came to my mind when i show this one is.....Why?
Even if was a true photo i think that a lot of familys that had lost someone in a silly war ,whould like to saw to the other people what happen......
We all respect the deads mutch more than the gov,s and that is for sure...
The photo is perfect and very imotional..
On 14 April 2008 Mario Scattoloni gave props:
Excellent. In all respects. Great foto...
On 14 April 2008 Casi Fleischman gave props:
Love this... democracy cat.?
On 14 April 2008 Lindsay gave props:
how amazing...powerful. very moving.
On 15 April 2008 Audrey Kanekoa-Madrid gave props:
Gave me a lump in my throat.....the title says it all. Powerful.
On 16 April 2008 maria tizon gave props:
What a response to this powerful image. When I first saw it, a few days ago, I was stunned and couldn't think of what to say. Reading everyone's comments here, I think there are a some things that can't be denied. One, you are an amazing photographer who oozes with talent. Two, with or with out a body, to me, this image shows a tremendous amount of respect for those soldiers who have died and to those who continue to serve. Three, to look away and pretend that there aren't people dying out there every day in this war is to deny the truth. And that is disrespectful. Great work, Josh. Beautiful, poignant AND technically amazing too.
On 17 April 2008 Christina McNeill said:
This image is incredibly impacting. Some just don't want to come to terms with what REALLY happens and by looking at this image gives them more of an insight to the reality of things. My cousin was killed in Iraq, so of course I could be in uproar about the image like Eric B wrote, but you see——— you have to remember the significance of that person by celebrating them, their life and what they did for us. Its a great image and whoever said not to center images is wrong. Yes, there is the "Rules of thirds" but, rules can always be broken---especially when its so dynamic, like this image.
On 18 April 2008 Eric Beauregard said:
Just to clarify - I wasn't in an "uproar" as suggested after my comment. I guess with the lack of hearing voice inflection some comments sounded that way. I was only bringing up a point assuming there was a soldier in the coffin. Had the info about the photo been available earlier - the confusion wouldn't have been there. I only mentioned a previous comment in order to clear-up what seemed like a hint at organized conspiracy. As far as Polly goes, I made no mention about whether her photography was good or not, in fact, I happen to really like her images especially the street photography. I also happen to like Mr. T's work as well. If nothing else - the image did what it was probably meant to do - stir emotion and debate. The number of comments is a sign of that.
On 24 April 2008 Cc said:
and Josh, this is what an incredible image does-- provoke conversation and as eric stated "debate". if it sucked no one would care! technically is great, the tones set the mood for the content and wether there's a body there or not, i agree that it's up to the viewer to partly make up the story especially if there's no description. in my humble opinion, photography, especially this image, is about documentation, telling a story, and this is what you have done. Great job and thanks for unintentionally "stirring things up"!!! :)
On 8 May 2008 Alvarez Sal said:
Sad but true, Exellent!!
On 18 May 2008 David Rocaberti gave props:
This image speaks for itself
On 25 May 2008 Melissa Thornhill Wood gave props:
Incredibly moving and technically excellent.
On 28 May 2008 Austin Wondolowski said:
powerful. very powerful.
On 28 May 2008 Eric Sayah gave props:
Striking image...no wonder it sparks such a controversy!
On 30 May 2008 Travis Middleton gave props:
man...this is amazing. great shot
On 5 June 2008 Michelle Lane said:
I know many people who have lost a friend or loved one in this war, myself included. When I look at this image I don’t see a “brilliant”, “wonderful”, or “fantastic” shot. This image brings back the pain of losing a dear friend who would still be with us if he hadn’t been sent to Iraq to fight in a war. However, I also feel that I must applaud Mr T for sharing this image with the world (having assumed that there truly was a casualty in the coffin). As we here in the States go about our daily lives, we tend to forget that there are still thousands of men and women fighting overseas. Whether they are there fighting for oil or freedom, the fact is they are there, fighting for the people of the United States, and I think that we need to be reminded from time to time of the price some of them have (or may have) had to pay for their service. As far as the technical aspects of the photo go, I think that Mr T nailed the feel of this challenging photo quite well. With that being said, I vote yes.
On 5 June 2008 Kyle Wilkins gave props:
this is deep. i think this is my favorite photo from you mr.T
On 6 June 2008 Trey Hill said:
not sure there is a better image for this theme. i'm glad you decided to put it in.
On 6 June 2008 catharine amato gave props:
I'm glad you entered this, too. Excellent for the theme and obviously got my vote
On 6 June 2008 Julie Shelton gave props:
i'm speechless. this is incredible. you got a definite yes vote from me. i really hope this is published.
On 6 June 2008 Laurent Chantegros gave props:
Very powerful shot.
On 6 June 2008 *hector* ortiz gave props:
wow... you make me cry... i will like to see this picture in the cover of any magazine...
On 7 June 2008 J. Harris gave props:
When this came up...It literally sent chills all the way down my body.... Powerful!!!!!! YEAH!!
On 7 June 2008 adniloj gave props:
I very much technically think this image is great and is presented in as unbiased of a manner as can be done; Mr. T, thank you for submitting this to the Democracy theme; Powerful and yes, image is so good that it will speak volumes through the viewers personal filters, for that I give this shot an A+
On 9 June 2008 Benoît Chailleux said:
this war is it a democratic decision ? the election of bush isn't it a mistake ?
On 9 June 2008 Benoît Chailleux said:
do not be naive, the war in Iraq never had like reason to defend the democracy.
what ever, beautifull shot.
On 10 June 2008 Becky Elenor said:
without question. it's a yes. very moving. (moved a tear down my cheek, even.)
On 10 June 2008 Nova Lamela gave props:
This so better be published for this theme. IT'S AWESOME!!!!!
On 11 June 2008 Audrey Kanekoa-Madrid gave props:
Yes.....my vote for sure.
On 12 June 2008 George Shaw said:
It's not just that you had the unique opportunity to shoot this but you also captured the exmptiness I expect this person's death will bring to others, especially family. Great image and, as someone else said, world-class.
On 14 June 2008 michael matlach said:
Simple,powerful, thoughtful!
On 14 June 2008 Gary Pearce said:
I strongly agree with tiffany lipscomb. FREEDOM ISN'T FREE! This picture is powerful and tuly depicts the theme of what it takes to preserve our democracy.
On 15 June 2008 John Linton gave props:
Oh yeah! It rocks!
On 15 June 2008 Rafal Soltysek said:
I would love those who decide to send somebody's else kids --were eager to send theirs.....
On 17 June 2008 Jay Mueller said:
This is an outrageously good photo...I don't know what the hell Alex Manea is thinking. It is technically great and that adds to its emotional resonance. Great shot.
On 18 June 2008 Handy Yusran gave props:
perfecto momento
On 18 June 2008 robert parks gave props:
yes
On 18 June 2008 Lance Rothstein said:
Magnificent!!! It says it all!
On 19 June 2008 marshall gave props:
i abhor the reality that this represents! however, sometimes reality bites. great photo.
On 20 June 2008 Olivier Vin gave props:
so well done, lunar light, fits exactely the mood. great job !
On 20 June 2008 jen ong said:
this image is so powerful. its caused so much discussion and debate, it is painful, truthful, thought-provoking, controversial. even if the coffin is empty, so many people have made up their own stories and you have greatly touched everyone with this image. bravo!
On 20 June 2008 Patrick Zip gave props:
So Powerful....
On 21 June 2008 Jacob Olsen said:
Awe inspiring. I would be very interested to hear the story of how you were able to be there and take this photo... Incredible.
On 21 June 2008 Andrea Marcanti said:
Wow
I can't beat that....
On 25 June 2008 Chris O'Shana said:
Awesome job, i hate to do this but check out my photo of the fallen soldiers table
On 30 June 2008 Anne McGinn gave props:
an iconic image, mr. t.
On 2 July 2008 Danielle Griepp gave props:
wow!
On 4 July 2008 Natalie S said:
Just revisiting this powerful image so I can vote for it - as I go through the Democracy submissions, this one still gets me
On 4 July 2008 Dylan L Maxson said:
This photo is so touching and moving. The exposure and texture are inviting . . . the shadows, ominous. I wish this photo could be on the cover of Newsweek or Time. We need to be more conscious of the preciousness our country is willing to sacrifice. -Mrs. Maxson
On 4 July 2008 Scott Loop said:
Depending on what you thank this is not the end but only the beganing.. But it is a dam good photo.
On 6 July 2008 Julie Burger said:
The ultimate sacrifice: what more can say Democracy, than this photo and what it represents. You have my vote!
On 8 July 2008 Brian Ach said:
Definitely a good shot, technically and composition-wise. A little bit of a bait-and-switch about whether there is a body or not, but it doesn't matter. A picture like this, with this subject matter, needs to stand on its own without a caption-that is, we need to be able to get all we need from the picture itself, and not from a caption or explanation...and on those virtues, it succeeds. I was wondering about a body because US press is not allowed to take or publish pictures of coffins returning from Iraq. This is the first conflict that these rules have been imposed, severely curtailing the freedom of the press and their duty to show the rest of the country and the world what is going on. Seeing only one side of an issue (whichever side you are on) is never a good thing and can lead people and leaders to make incorrect decisions based on incomplete or misinformation. As a card-carrying member of the NY Press Corps, I have experienced first-hand what this is like and have, at times, not been able to carry out my duties because of a supposed "rule" or "law." This picture is great in that it raises uncomfortable issues and questions in the world and our country, and isn't that what good journalistic photography does? So, if you armchair critics disprove of it because of your politics or because it made you uncomfortable before you found out there was no body in it, you should ask yourself what the real issue is.
www.brianach.com
On 8 July 2008 Abby White said:
WooW!!
On 11 July 2008 Eric Finster gave props:
Nice, Very Nice!
On 13 July 2008 Jose Vásquez said:
just.. wow.. superb capture! congrats.
On 15 July 2008 Ray Kenn gave props:
A stark reminder of what it truly means to sacrifice
On 16 July 2008 Leslie Hunziker said:
Body or no body, this photo of the flag on the coffin does just what it should. Remind us of what is important in this life. Heros who give there lives for our freedom. And what do most of us do with that freedom? Spend it figuring out what corian we want for our kitchen countertops. How we can get the latest and greatest of new technology toys on the market, or a bigger better car or truck. This photo jolts us back to what we should be focusing on in life. I thank you for that.
On 20 July 2008 Philip Frazer gave props:
I am so stuck on this shot. I feel it is a dishonor to this fallen patriot to not display such a sacrifice. I feel we need to not be hidden from the facts of life and war and im honored to favorite this work.
On 24 July 2008 Cristian Ioja gave props:
I stand and salute, here and now.

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