Photography and food on Veterans Day...

In what seems to be quickly becoming a tradition, there are free meals for veterans.

Restaurants like Uno's, the Texas Roadhouse, Applebees, Chili's, Hooters, and Golden Coral are just some of the restaurants that are offering a free meal to veterans (and active duty military) on Veterans Day, this Friday November 11.

Not only does it seem like there are more restaurants than ever participating, but there are other retailers who are getting in on the "act of thankfulness".

Sam's Club is giving away free canes, Lowes and Home Depot are giving a 10% discount on purchases, get a 20% discount at Foot Locker (all year long), and you can even get your car washed.

Once your car is all spiffy drive to any national park and get in free all weekend long.

Check out The Military Wallet for more deals, discounts, and other resources for veterans.

Now for the photography part of this post.

The History Channel has put out a call for photos in an effort to collect an image of every man and woman whose name is inscribed on the "The Wall".

And speaking of veterans whose names appear on the Vietnam War Memorial, here are two young men from Biddeford (Maine) who are on the wall and below is a brief description of how I put these images together.

Robert N. Dechene, 23 / Army – Tour of duty 7/16/67 – 9/17/67

Raymond A. Borduas, 20 / Marine – tour of duty 5/5/68 – 6/4/68

Of all the work (photographically) I have done, these two images are what I am most proud of. Though they may have little to do necessarily with photographic skills, the families to whom they were given thought them to be wonderful “pictures”.

Here is a (very abbreviated) overview of what I did In Photoshop:

1. Took a photograph of the section of The Wall that contained their name and in Photoshop crated two layers, burnt all but their names so all other names were pushed to the background but still viewable (by creating layers I was able to adjust the opacity of the burnt background layer)

2. Painted their names white to make them stand out, this too was done in layers so I could better control the "brightness" of their name with opacity

3. Took one of their old pictures (scanned it), converting it to a digital image

4. Using layers (again) I combined their old photo with the photo of the wall that bore their name

It was relatively easy to create, but is (I think) and outstanding "photograph".

In closing I would like to ask you two things:

1. Please pass this post to any veteran you might know so they will be aware of the generosity retailers are showing them

2. If there is a parade in your town, I humbly ask you that you consider going

Thank you.