New pictorial book captures futility and cost of war
[caption id="attachment_20031" align="alignnone" width="587"] Countless[/caption]Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~A Nova Scotia photographer who captured images of Europe’s most famous battle sites wants her work to be a permanent reminder of the horrific human cost of war. Justine Macdonald, a self-described military brat, says the inspiration and vision for her newly released pictorial book Remembrance Road: A Canadian Photographer’s Journey Through European Battlefields draws heavily from growing up on Canadian Forces bases in the 1980s. “Not every military child develops an interest in military history, but I did. I think my interest in history in general and my love of travel mixed with my family background led me to this point,” says the 40-year-old resident of Annapolis Valley. “A better photographer now than when I visited these sites with my family as a young adult, I wanted to return and re-photograph them – to try and do the sites justice and share the experience with those who are unable to make the journey themselves.”Her parents met in Cyprus in the early 1970s while her father, Stephen MacDonald, was part of the Canadian Army’s United Nations Peacekeeping mission, and her mother Moira was a Leading Aircraft Woman with the Women’s Royal Air Force. When they married and returned to Canada her father transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force working as a flight engineer before eventually retiring as a Sergeant at CFB Greenwood in 2002. Prior to that, the family lived on military bases in Cold Lake, where Justine was born, Winnipeg, and Geilenkirchen, Germany.Though never a member of the military herself, MacDonald had a front-row view of life on military bases at the end of the Cold War. She says those experiences had a lasting impact and spurred her interest in travel, writing and photography.“It piqued my interest and I never would have...