Russian soldiers, WW2 (photo52)

my entry to '52 weeks' contest by @wwwiebe

( the initial post & rules , all 52 prompts, this week entry )

Week had a prompt: 'Cinco De Mayo', which says a lot to any Mexican or American but is pretty numb for us here, in Russia. But we do celebrate a Day of the Great Victory over the nazist Germany in 1945, and what a lovely neightbouring occasion: it is being celebrated here exactly on May, 9!

Still I was afraid I had nothing to come up with. See, I am not fond of shooting any war parades or the ignorant, narrow-minded citizens who like to get free orange-black badges of "military symbolics". (In fact, historically, this badge is a sign indicating that the person who wears it was awarded with the Order of St. George! Wearing this award badge being unawarded, just like that, "in memory of the last war or beloved grandfather-soldier", certainly is not the highest idiocy ... but about that. In the past it was restricted, now its encouraged and promoted. If you fasten a badge - you immediately considered a patriot after that. And there's nothing you can do about it).

taken with Canon 350D +Canon 70-300mm
location: St.Petersburg, Russia
date: September 30, 2007
tags: photofeed history ru photo52 creativecoin

I think this photo havent got any drop of vulgarity or idiocy. Look, these people have wonderful faces! A few words about the photo: these men and their companion in black dress, are the fans of historical reconstruction games. I met them on the day, when our city celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Trams at St.Petersburg, back in 2007. There was an amazing vintage trams parade for all day. Happily, I was able to jump on it. 50-mm and 70-300mm tele were the only lens in my arsenal around that time, I was only dreaming about any wide-angle and was not even aware of the fish-eye artsy benefits... but it is another story. Hope you enjoyed the pic, it turned out pretty well, considering both the detalization, colours, and a nice moment captured. It was a lucky click, with no double takes.

Не люблю снимать ни парады, ни недалеких граждан, которые любят получить забесплатно оранжево-черные ленточки "военной символики", нацепить на себя, свою сумку, окно машины, куртку, а то и жопу, и таскать потом весь май, пока она не отвалится. (На самом деле, исторически, это знак свидетельствующий о награждении персоны, которая носит эту ленточку, орденом Св.Георгия. Ношение знака о награждении этим орденом "просто так", на память о войне или любимом дедушке-солдате, конечно не высший идиотизм... но около того. И раньше такое самоуправство (само-награждение!) каралось весьма строго. Увы, поделать с этим уже ничего нельзя).