Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium

Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium.

Flags are placed prior to Memorial Day Weekend

Lieutenant General James Hollingsworth burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Lieutenant General James Hollingsworth burial at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday May 20th was attended by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.


Three Star general James Hollingsworth is the most highly decorated U.S. general after serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. His statue is located at Texas A&M University.

In WWII he was involved in the invasion of Northern Africa and his armored regiment under General George Patton was the first to enter Berlin at the end of the war. He was wounded in combat 5 times during WWII.
In Vietnam he received two Distinguished Service Cross.

In Korea General Hollingsworth commanded the largest number of U.S. troops of any commander (13 Divisions).

The Arlington Service was attended by many warriors both old and young paying their final respects.

This photo was taken moments before the guests took their places at the gravesite as Bob Gates observes the placment of the casket.

Lot's of happenings at The Edge

We've had a lot of neat things happening this year going into spring. I need to catch up on blogging about a lot of events for us.
First we've had our images published in the last two issues of Professional Image Maker magazine. The images were gold award winners in the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographer competitions.

We had a great Bridal Show at West Belmont in Leesburg where we offered free engagement pictures to brides. Harmon's Carriage gave us a great backdrop for the couples.

Two of our images won Silver Awards in the British Professional Photographers Assoc. March competition. I will post those images on here as well as add them to our facebook gallery.

Most unique, was our videography and photography at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, April 9th. We documented the memorial service and funeral for 4 helicopter crewman recovered from Vietnam. They were lost in 1965 and after decades of active searching the crash site was finally located last winter.
I was contacted by Medal of Honor awardee Bruce Crandall. Bruce was a Vietnam era helicopter pilot whose exploits (actually just a few of many exploits)  are documented in the movie "We Were Soldiers" and the book "We were Soldiers and Young". I understand that there are about 91 living receipients of the MOH and one passes away about every 6 weeks. Bruce was the commander for the Huey 808 crew and hired us to document the Arlington service for the families of the lost soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division.
Well known Hollywood tenor Steve Amerson also flew in at Bruce's request to sing at the memorial service in the Old Post Chapel on Fort Myers.
During the funeral a formation of Huey helicopters flew in formation over the gravesite and up the Potomac River creating a wonderful scene that I know the families will remember forever.
It's well worth the time to look up on Wikipedia the information about Bruce, his comrades and the bravery shown in war for our country.
The Delta Company honor guard also wants images from the service and I'm reminded of our trip in March to Valley Forge where I learned that they were actually the personal guard for George Washington during the revolutionary war.
Friday was a great refresher for any history buff of a huge timeline of events that's tied to a small number of great people.

I also encourage you to check out Steve Amerson's website for great music.

http://www.steveamerson.com/

Now back to processing images for everyone, that's obviously my medium for expression.

Don Harper

SWPP competition results for February

We entered a number of photographs in the February Photography Competition sponsored by the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers. This picture is one of the gold award winners and will be printed in Image Maker magazine later this spring.

The photo are two irishmen (father and son) at a Historic Long Branch wedding reception.

We have 8 other prints that received bronze awards in different catagories.

Enjoy.

Save the Date for the Bridal & Event Show at West Belmont Place in Leesburg

Hunt Country Celebrations an event networking group in the Virginia Piedmont is holding their annual bridal and event expo on April 10th at West Belmont Place in Leesburg Virginia. We will be offering free pictures for bridal couples around the premises and in a horse drawn carriage.

Register for some of the great prizes, see some great vendors and get great ideas for your event.

More details will follow as the expo date approaches, and don't forget to visit our photography website:
The Edge Photography Studio, northern Virginia's largest and highest rated by brides on the Knot and Wedding Wire We are holding our winter open house this Wednesday evening from 6PM-9PM.

Love of Family, Love of Country Asuka Books USA album of the week

We are honored to have one of our book publishers "Asuka Books, USA" select one of our memorial albums to showcase Love of Family, Love of Country.
This is a memorial book from our work at Arlington National Cemetery for one family. This is of course shown with the family's permission.

Asuka Book of the week "Love of Family, Love of Country"

There is also a link below the book cover that will take you to a flip-page view of the entire memorial book.


A memorial service at Arlington is of course a time for mourning the loss of a family member or friend but also a chance to celebrate their love of life and country.

More of our work at Arlington can be seen at:

Arlington-Photographer.com Website

The great snowstorm of 2010, at least we hope it won't be superceded.

These are a couple of images from Leesburg, Va on our street taken Saturday evening after the snowfall stopped and the sun was setting in a clear blue sky.

Wedding Wire Bride's Choice Awards 2010

Ines and I are excited to announce that The Edge Photography Studio has been chosen to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means our past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected us to receive this honor.

Last year we were selected one of the top 7 photographers in the Washington DC area by Knot Bride's.

I think one of the keys to our success is not only great photography but also our emphasis on Value.

Couples and their parents are watching every dollar they spend and finding ways to have a unique and exciting wedding without overspending. We are part of that solution.

We want to provide great service, great images and the best albums at the very best price without compromise.

We also want people to say WOW! when they look at the images we create for our clients.

Give us a call to find out why bride's are stepping over to the Edge.

View from our cabin outside Smoky Mountain National Park

Ines and I had the chance to escape for a few days to a wonderful log cabin looking out towards the Smoky Mountains. This photo is a vertical panorama (vertical stitching) composed from 5 different images taken with a 400mm f3.5 lens on the Nikon D300s which with the crop factor made an effective focal length of 600mm. ISO was 2000 and exposure was 1/160 second at f4.

The cabins were new and real luxury with a hot tub hanging out over the 20 foot drop to the scree slope below us. Hi-speed internet, large jucuzzi tub and just a great place to watch the weather and fog move in and out of the valleys and mountains to the east. A great place to veg and read a book which in this case was "Priceless" by William Poundstone. A very entertaining book pertient to anyone running a business.

Time now to prepare for the bridal shows and process some images for competitions.

Free Tickets Washington Bridal Showcase January 31st

Free tickets for the Washington Bridal Showcase!
The Washington Bridal Showcase happens at the Dulles Expo Center on January 31st. This is the largest bridal show in the Washington Metro area each year.
We will be there of course in the Hunt Country Celebrations area. Stop by to talk with Don and Ines Harper to find out why The Edge Photography Studio is voted one of the best for your wedding photography. Quality and Value are a couple of words that we hear from brides on a consistent basis.
Give us a call to pickup free tickets for the show. The tickets are available at our studio in Leesburg but you must call first. 703.669.1000
See you soon.

Mr. Quicksilver says Merry Christmas from The Edge

This is a 5 exposure HDR image of our Christmas Tree with Mr. Quicksilver surveying the scene.

Washington DC in August and Arlington National Cemetery

We've been spoiled this summer with mild weather, but now Washington DC is living up to it's reputation as the place to escape during August.
I had the chance to photograph a Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Service today, but it was warm with not a hint of a breeze. As I drove past the Women's Memorial Bldg I noticed the empty fountain and thought wistfully of this image taken earlier this year.

A fun 4th of July Wedding in Washington DC

Here is an image from our wedding on the 4th.

Capital in the background on Pennsylvania Ave.

Flags at gravesites Memorial Day Arlington Cemetery

This is another image from Memorial Day 2009 at Arlington National Cemetery.

Flags are placed at each headstone by the Old Guard troops.

President Obama at Tomb of The Unknown Soldier Memorial Day

We had the opportunity to photograph the President at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday.

Here are a few images from the day.

This was the president's chance to salute the U.S. military and also avoid the controversy about having a wreath also delivered to the confederate memorial in the cemetery.

Our position was on scaffolding next to the staircase leading up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which gave us a chance to have the Amphitheater and the guests as a backdrop.

Normally this isn't a perspective you can obtain when photographing at the tomb but our White House Press Pool pass gave us access next to the CNN and CBS cameras.

I have some other ideas for interesting locations at future Arlington services.

Rain or Shine, Arlington Memorial Services

A Rainy Day at Arlington, not everyday is sunshine

There is a beauty to be found in all kinds of weather. This was at Arlington last Monday in pouring rain.

The Knot Best of Weddings 2008/2009 Pick

We don’t advertise our wedding photography and instead rely on referrals, and to tell the truth have never paid much attention to The Knot.
Yesterday, we received an award plaque from The Knot informing us we were voted one of the best photography studios in the DC area. We picked up their magazine “The Knot Best of Weddings 2009” and found that we received their highest rating from our brides and were one of only seven photographers in the DC area to achieve that rating. Not to shabby, and thanks to the Edge brides. Love you ladies!

Here is The Knot’s verbiage to be polically correct.

"We are proud to announce that The Edge Photography Studio has been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2008/2009 Pick. Please pick up a copy of The Knot Best of Weddings 2009 magazine and check out our listing."

Arlington National Cemetery Easter Sunrise Service

A few more images from the Sunday service including pre-dawn, moonset, and sunbeams starting to illuminate the soldiers, sailors and marines between the marble columns.

Dove Release concludes Easter Sunrise Service at Arlington National Cemetery

Following a three day Indian wedding and returning home at 12:30 on Sunday morning I got up at 3AM to photograph the Easter Sunrise Service at Arlington National Cemetery.

Here is the dove release that concluded the service.

I owe David Kay a big thanks for giving me the motivation to get up in the middle of the wee hours.