Photographers across the country are putting their art to use as a unique means for honoring veterans. On Veterans Day, Trish Logan photographed 50 veterans as they left a Veterans Day program. She offered them both individual portraits and group photographs with their families. All photographs were free of charge, the Oxford Hills Sun Journal reported.
"They all have great stories," Logan told the Journal. Her project to commemorate veterans is part of a wider effort to give back to her Maine community, called the Logan Legacy Project, which offers donations to local high schools, college scholarships and opportunities for students to learn about photography.
Logan's veteran project began in 2010, when the Wreaths Across America initiative stopped by the Maine Veterans' Home. Seeing the veterans' faces as they watched the procession go by in the cold wind outside left an indelible impact on her.
Speaking with local students opened Logan's eyes to how little they knew about certain moments in history, particularly the experiences World War II veterans. "It's a generation," Logan told the paper, "that's vanishing." To correct that, she's taking their photographs with the aim of recording the stories of every veteran in her Oxford Hills community within the next few years.
In New York, Stacy Pearsall, a former Air Force combat photographer who served two tours in Iraq, is addressing old wounds with new photographs in her life after service. Pearsall's military career ended abruptly when she was wounded by an IED blast.
"When I got wounded, I spent a lot of time in the hospital. I was looking around at other veterans. They really inspired me to want to do portraits," Pearsall told CNY Central.
After getting healthy, Pearsall founded the Veteran's Portrait Project. She has already taken 3,000 portraits of veterans nationwide.