One of my favorite re-enactment events in the Upstate, SC area is Festifall at Walnut Grove Plantation. To see more of this event I have a post with pictures here.
Many of the photos I take at these events eventually become reference for paintings. Here is one of my latest watercolor paintings entitled “The Muster” using reference from the Walnut Grove event. Enjoy.
History, particularly reenactors, is one of my favorite photo subjects. I was playing around with some black and white renditions of this image and was satisfied with the way this one came out. Most of the editing work was done in Lightroom. The buttonhole design on the uniform jacket made for a nice graphic element. Though it doesn’t look like it this guy was actually giving a lecture on 18th century militia tactics but this sort of unique contemplative pose stood out to me in the pics I had of him.
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern unseen before
A path to higher destinies.
Nor deem the irrevocable Past,
As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.
Longfellow
I shot this photo at a small local exhibit featuring 3 vintage World War II aircraft. I was reminded first hand how history is not just dusty facts and dates but an almost inexhaustible supply of stories passed on face to face by people with a twinkle in their eye, enthusiasm in their voice and an insatiable curiosity to know more, and, if they’re lucky, doing it all with a real piece of history sitting right in front of them.
As I moved from plane to plane snapping my pics, conversations wafted through the air like delicious aromas, young and old alike joining in the feast, asking questions, sharing knowledge and displaying a fascination for the history represented before them. On and on the conversations went. History is at its best on days like this because it’s stories are enthusiastically shared by people who lived them, love them, never want to forget them or all of the above.
The Mind of Watercolor 