2014-03-15 -

Found myself in Greensboro, NC for the 2014 Battle of Guilford Courthouse Revolutionary War Reenactment.  Very nice day considering the weather we have been having recently.  Little bit of a breeze but sunny with mostly blue skies.  I had read about this event and decided to check it out with Pat.  However, she was still recovering from a cold and decided to stay home.  By coincidence, several members of the Capital City Camera Club (Raleigh) had decided to go as well.  I met up with Jim, Sandra and Jeff and spent the day walking around the grounds with them.  The park was beautiful and if you ever get the chance to go, check this event out!

As the weather has improved a bit I have been able to get outside to shoot the last couple of weekends.  Much nicer and easier to get decent shots.  For this trip I took my Pentax K3 and the following Tamron lenses:
f2.8 70-200mm (the Beast!)
f2.8 25-79mm
f3.5-6.3 18-250MM

I started out with the 25-79 mm as I was fairly close to the folks participating in the ceremony honoring Nathanial Hawthorne.  Then as we walked around the various encampments, switched to the Beast.  Finally after a short lunch break, we worked our way to the battlefield.  There due to the distances from which I was going to shoot and the plentiful sunlight, I switched over to the 18-250mm.  Man - what a difference in weight from the 70-200!  It felt as if I had just a small point and shoot!

Quite a bit of the event consisted of various encampments through which you could meander, taking pictures, talking with the participants or just gawking.  I have been to many Civil War encampments, but this one just seemed more open and interactive.  Not sure why, but it was very nice! 

We made our way to the actual battle field where the crowd was for the most part probably 10 - 15 rows deep!  I found a spot behind a VIP section and staked my claim.  A narrator did a fantastic job describing the progress of the battle.  He pointed out that while we were in a fairly small area, the actual event covered several miles.  As the battle came closer he would point out flashes of light of the gun barrels, subtle movements of men in the woods and troop movements in front of us.  Eventually the battle broke into the open field.  Cannons roared, muskets fired and casualties fell.  All the time the narrator described what was unfolding in front of us.

I am very thankful for the opportunity to combine my photography hobby with such events and look forward to many more this summer.  To see more shots from the event, look in the 2014 folder under My Photographs.  While this was not an "artsy" event nor one which would produce photos to display or enter in competition, it was a great event to shoot.  Plenty to see and feel free to comment.