Memorial Day at the Golden Gate National Cemetery

This morning I made a visit to the Golden Gate National Cemetery for Memorial Day. 

It always daunting to be in a military cemetery with 145,000 grave stones. On this weekend every year, they decorate each stone with an American flag. Families also come to pay their personal respect for those who served in our armed forces.

I have been to this cemetery numerous times in the past, but this year I made it in time for the ceremony. The San Bruno fire department had their ladder truck flying the American flag in the background.

At the beginning of the ceremony, the Coast Guard did a fly-by over the site. I slowed the shutter of my camera (to make sure that I did not freeze the helicopter rotors), and waited for the chopper to fly by the ladder.

Since I know many people will ask me about the settings for getting the helicopter shot, I had the camera set to ISO 50, aperture set to f/22, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/30th second. I panned with the chopper as it passed by. This shows the spin of the rotors, which is much more visually appealing than freezing them in place.

I walked up the hill to show the crowd and part of the expansive cemetery in the background.

Since I have photographed this cemetery many times and posted in the past, I decided to keep the shutter slow (showing the movement of the flags) to capture this differently from the past. 

As I was leaving, I spotted this by one of the stones. I thought it was interesting and worth a photo. 

As all of you are enjoying your barbecues, I hope that you take a moment to think about the people who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. 

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