Aloha everybody!  You knew I’d have to get one more in before we say farewell to Hawaii, didn’t you? 🙂 I wanted to end my series on Hawaii with a look at the most meaningful part of the trip for me – our time out at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Area, and specifically the USS Arizona Memorial.

When I was first planning out my Hawaii series, I seriously considered not sharing these images.  As a photographer, I have a very deep-seated desire to share only my best work, and within that I try to only share unique images, or if it’s not completely unique, as can be very hard at iconic places, at least my take on popular scenes.  As I walked around the different areas of the Pearl Harbor Memorial sites, I frankly just didn’t think I had anything new to offer.  There wasn’t any super interesting light happening, and I didn’t find any perspectives that I thought were unique.  I kept taking pictures, mostly because that’s how I experience a place best, but I felt like what I was capturing was more or less just documentation.

Despite my creative feelings, I found the different museums and memorials to be extremely interesting and engrossing.  Prior to going, Holly and I had been reading Winds of War and War and Remembrance, both by Herman Wouk, which chronicles the lives of multiple people from just before World War II started, through to the end.  The historical fiction series added so much depth and extra interest to our visit to Pearl Harbor, it was amazing.  Having just read about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and then to be standing there on the deck of the USS Missouri looking up the harbor at the USS Arizona Memorial, seeing where all the Japanese planes would have come from, was just an incredible way to experience the whole thing.

While in Hawaii, Holly and I managed to get a spot on one of the tours out to the USS Arizona Memorial, and we also toured the USS Missouri and the air museum (we skipped only the Bowfin submarine tour – next time!).  All of it was super interesting and I’d highly recommend visiting.  Seriously, go to Hawaii, if for no other reason than to see this!  For this week’s Picture of the Week, the above image is from the inside of the USS Arizona Memorial.  The wall contains the names of all the sailors who died that day on the ship.  The two benches in the foreground memorialize the names of other Navy members who passed away later, but wished for their ashes to be placed inside the USS Arizona.  

–Dan Thompson