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Scene Through the Lens | May 30, 2022

The duality of Memorial Day as Inquirer staff photographer Tom Gralish visually explores our region.

May 30, 2022: Nighttime beach-goers take flash photos on the big chair and surfboards, in the dark, just off the boardwalk in Wildwood.
May 30, 2022: Nighttime beach-goers take flash photos on the big chair and surfboards, in the dark, just off the boardwalk in Wildwood.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, coming in the years following the Civil War. Congress made the last Monday in May a holiday in 1971 in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees.

It is a somber day for remembrance of those fallen in war and also the unofficial beginning of summer.

I covered the duality of the day this week, photographing both a public art installation intended to help us remember the men and women who died while serving in the military, and the scene at the Jersey Shore as another summer arrives, following two years of a pandemic.

Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column