There are not many things I like to rehearse or repeat, but the annual Market Garden commemoration near my hometown is one of those events that keeps reappearing on my calender. First of it is in my opinion absolutely important to never forget the sacrifices that were made by young men from abroad for the sake of freedom. Additionally I don’t consider myself an event photographer, yet like to make an exception for this airborne dropping.
This year’s event was combined with celebrating 2,000 years armies in the Dutch province I come from.
See previous photographs I made here.
All photographs by Wouter Brandsma
Wouter Brandsma 
Absolutely wonderful photographs Wouter. Each year, I love the different compositions you take.
Thank you James. With each year you see new perspective which gives you new directions.
These are goooorgeous! The grain is just right for the series.
Thank you.
He Wouter,
Ik krijg onderstaand commentaar niet geplaatst?
Wouter I can remember your foto’s from last year, this year you succeeded to make an even more better serie! The last picture is the greatest, I imagine myself back in time! Great job!
Groet, Arjan.
Op 22 sep. 2012 om 22:17 heeft “Wouter Brandsma 荷蘭” het volgende geschreven:
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Je commentaar is goed overgekomen jongen. I have a couple of similar photographs of the last scene. In the low light it was too good to be true.
Hoi Wouter,
Super! Ben blij dat je hier weer geweest bent. Zeldzaam mooi zoals je dit in beeld brengt.
Hoi Jan, Ik heb er niet eens veel foto’s gemaakt. Jammer dat je weer moest werken, maar je hebt er tenminste wat van kunnen zien.
They are so beautiful, the best pictures of the remembrance on the heath of Ede we have seen from you! Mom and dad
I was especially fond of the last two photographs. The light, the posing. Best yet was the fun Björn had at the dropping. Priceless moments!
Good pictures, Wouter – the bottom one is really excellent! Adrian
Thank you Adrian.
Nice photos, Wouter!
Thank you Eric. I hope you do fine.
Lovely photos – especially the last one, it has a great emotional content.
I feel honored to provoke these emotions, Mike.
I’ve never gotten any luck in shooting a waving flag, either the wind is gone or I missed the timing just by 0.1 sec 😦 Clearly you’ve nailed it! The b&w made the viewers traveled back in time for a minute. And it’s the right choice to dress the photos this way.
I like the slight bokeh to isolate the messy tree/light source. I’d also been trying the the past two three days myself during the day.
It is all repetition Alan. Multiple planes flew the same path. It is all about recognizing the repetition, the patterns, and the movement. It is the same with so many subjects in my opinion.
Stunning work on these! Thanks for posting. And the commentary you wrote and the event are fascinating, and I appreciate that you commemorate this.
Thank you Sheri. It is so easy to celebrate the succeeded, yet so hard to commemorate the defeated. Either way, their sacrifices and the obligation we have to keep alive what they thought was worth fighting for makes it valuable to me.
So very true and often missed when we thank those who sacrifice for others. Again thanks for sharing.
I always enjoy viewing your shots of the Operation Market Garden commemoration and am genuinely touched that the sacrifice of my fellow countrymen is still honoured and remembered after all these years.