Boston Photographers: I am putting together a photo walk around Boston on Saturday August 27th at 2PM. My idea is we meet up around 2PM and then walk around and shoot the different sites and sounds of Boston… Faneuil Hall, The Waterfront, The crowd for the Red Sox Game, The T, or whatever the collective group is into. When we are done shooting we can all stop off for a drink or two and some dinner! It is a great opportunity for people to get out and just have a good time shooting. It will be very casual walk with some sharing of knowledge… We can firm up the details as the group forms and we get a little closer to the date but please indicate your interest by dropping me an email or leaving a comment below. I’ll add you to Google+ so you can get into the Boston Photowalk Circle. I have had a really good response so far on Google+ so I hope to see you in Boston!

now on to today’s blog post…

Continuing to deal with my jet lag with morning exercise. It's a good way for me to work off some of the excess calories I am picking up with the American Diet.

Today’s Configuration: Leica M9 with a Summilux 21mm f/1.4, Summilux 35mm f/1.4 and Noctilux 50mm f/0.95. FujiFilm x100.

I attended a family funeral at Arlington National Cemetery while in DC. I photographed it at the request of my family. I considered if I should post something this personal here or not but I thought there were a few important discussion points so I decided to...

I was so impressed with the care and compassion in which they approach each and every service. I was speaking to the Chaplin and he mentioned they are doing 30 funerals a day right now. He said he had to do one in the afternoon for a 20 year old who was just killed in Afghanistan. I think it takes a special type of person to do that day in and day out. It must take such an emotional toll.

He said he thought it was interesting that I was photographing it (at my families request) as he hasn't 'seen' one of his services before. I sent him the photos from yesterday. He mailed me back this morning and seemed really happy. My family also really likes how I captured yesterday.

It is very interesting that we hardly hesitate to photograph births, birthdays, graduations, weddings and other significant moments in life. If you view a funeral as a celebration of life then I think documenting the moment for family members that were there as well as ones that are remote and extended family and friends then I think it is perfectly OK to have someone discretely photograph a funeral. I posted up the days photos to a private password protected portfolio on my site for my family to share. I am always happy when I can give back through photography...

I remember going to my grandfather's funeral in 1983 at Arlington. He had a full honor guard and it was amazing as a child to see how they honor soldiers.

My great uncle, my grandfathers twin brother, is also buried in Arlington. By complete luck their headstones are two rows apart in the same line. If you understand the scale of Arlington this is a pretty amazing coincidence.

The scale of Arlington is something that needs to be seen to be understood.

We went over to the columbarium area to see where my Parents ultimately will be buried. Anyone who is honorabely discharged can be buried here. I could be buried here if I wanted to since I served 4 years in the US Coast Guard.