War is … Heaven?

JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images

I must have written this a few times before, but…

Looking at this pic, it feels like the transition from war to art photography is finally complete.

(There are so many spiritual/supernatural suggestions here, starting with halos, though the ring in the center also looks like one of those symbolic dark clouds a cartoonist will place over a character’s head. The vapor trails coming off the smoke rings combined with the illumination — especially the one far right with the light breaking through the clouds inside the smoke ring — especially evokes “something heavenly” going on. And then, the tank basks in it’s own brightness. It’s like the best side of Ares.)

More (s)examples here.

(caption:A South Korea’s K1 tank fires smoke shells during a joint military drill between South Korea and the US in Paju near the inter-Korean border on June 8, 2011 aimed at deterring North Korea’s military threat. Tensions on the Korea peninsula are high following two deadly border incidents last year which Seoul blames on its neighbour.)