This started as a personal project back in the Summer. I had long wanted to create some stripped back images of the humble poppy with a view to producing some work for Remembrance. We had a few poppies growing wild in the garden and their location was such that they caught the morning sunlight. The problem was that they were also in an exposed position so were invariably being blown by the wind. It took a few mornings of waiting for there to be clear skies allowing for soft morning sun and the air to be still so that the poppies were reasonably motionless.
From a technical point of view each image was made using an 85mm lens at f2.5, ISO200 and with a 12mm extension tube to allow the flower head to fill the frame. The poppy had sunlight from the right, either back lighting the flower head or illuminating the face, depending on aspect of the individual flower. I also used the modelling light from a strobelight to provide soft fill in light. The camera was hand held and the light was on a stand.
The second part, having produced the images, was to deliver them as part of Remembrance Day. Alligin Photography had worked with the Army Rugby Union closely in the past for Remembrance Day, so that was the obvious place to start. From there the idea of providing a coherent set of three images, one for the Army Rugby Union, one for the Royal Navy Rugby Union and one for their annual Army v Navy Match was developed. In keeping with the original idea of simplicity it was decided to use the images on Social Media but without any accompanying text or credit notes. The only text would be on the image and consist of the relevant Union/Match logo and a single hashtag 'WeRemember'.
A fourth image was used by ourselves, at Alligin Photography, and included a verse, whose origins I still cannot find, which is a nod to my former career in the Royal Navy. A longer adaptation of this verse can be found in my post "In Oceans Wastes No Poppies Blow" which was penned by Eileen Mahoney in 2001, when she was aged 90!
My thanks go to Kimberley Fowke, from the Army Rugby Union, who provided valuable input in to developing the concept and also to Jo May, from Sapphire Seven Limited, for advice on the Army v Navy logo.
Other posts linked to Remembrance:
From the Army Rugby Union:
2018 - 1 of 3- 100th Year Remembrance - Instagram Post
2018 - 2 of 3- 100th Year Remembrance - Instagram Post
2018 - 2 of 3- 100th Year Remembrance - Instagram Post
Links to the two Unions and the Army v Navy Match:
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