Moorpark Civil War Reenactment 2007

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

This last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the annual Moorpark Civil War reenactment.
Yes, there were no Civil War battles here in SoCal, but this never stopped fine men and women of Moorpark Rotary, Richmond Howitzers, Fort Tejon and all the allied organizations to make this event anything less than memorable and spectacular.

I took over 2,000 shots over the course of two days. Took me well into the morning to process them, but at least I got a top spot on their website (and already made a few sales, too .

Here's a scoop:

1: In line

2: Howitzer's blast

3: Firing squad

4: Union attacks

The short selection (~50): http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/3809437
The complete set (~1,100+): http://nik.smugmug.com/Events/372947

Thanks for visiting!

 

[John_Nevill]

Nik,

I've yet to view your web selection, but the last one in this batch is superb, great atmosphere, it almost looks like you borrowed a tardis and went back in time.

 

[Asher Kelman]

In spite of not wanting to make you explode with pride you got my vote today! This is a wonderful pictoral re-eanactment work and you have gotten the timing and angles right! Great job Nikolai!

Thanks again for bringing us to an exciting field of battle!

Asher

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Nik,

I've yet to view your web selection, but the last one in this batch is superb, great atmosphere, it almost looks like you borrowed a tardis and went back in time.

Thanks John, appreciate it!
Yes, the night battles are usually the most dramatic ones, no wonder you liked the shot from it

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

In spite of not wanting to make you explode with pride you got my vote today! This is a wonderful pictoral re-eanactment work and you have gotten the timing and angles right! Great job Nikolai!

Thanks again for bringing us to an exciting field of battle!

Asher

Thank you, Asher!
Glad you liked it! Come join me next year, it's always in November, first weekend after the time savings change.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks, Nik, I'll put it in my calender! Love to join you!

I wish all wars could end up with people just picking themselves up, going home, sending their uniforms to the dry cleaners, sow on any missing buttons and be ready for the next war!

Asher

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

Nice work, Nik. I was there on Sunday as well. If I had known about the evening battle, I would have loved to have been there for that. Next year for sure! Here are a couple of mine from Sunday:
The triumph and the tragedy

The "thousand-yard stare"

I have 5 galleries on my site:
http://www.vg-photo.com/non/cwr/cwr2007.html

 

[Asher Kelman]

I must say, Eric, I do like you pictures in B&W. More of what I'd imagine.

Ever tried sepia?

Asher

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

Those actually are in sepia, but lightly. I don't like to overdue the sepia, so I hint at it. Too much sepia has a tendency to blow out the highlights too much (IMHO).

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Thanks, Eric, nice piccies!

 

[Ron Morse]

Nice shots from both.

Nik, I really like your last shot. Looks like the real thing.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

You mean the reenactors let you in the vicinity without a horse-drawn photographer's van and wetplate collodion setup?

I like the fourth image as well. The color and staging seem reminiscent of some eighteenth-century history painting, like Benjamin West.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yes, David, these are very well setup reenactments. However, the pictures are as skillfully taken. Very impressive work!

Such great devotion! The people are really in the parts!

Now wouldn't it blow your mind if there actually was a guy making his own plates for photographing the battlefields!

Asher

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Nice shots from both.
Nik, I really like your last shot. Looks like the real thing.

Thanks Ron!
As to the reality - the closer you can get to the action, the more real it feels...

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Now wouldn't it blow your mind if there actually was a guy making his own plates for photographing the battlefields!

Asher

It seems that a good portion of the current interest in wetplate photography is just that. If you hunt around on the internet for information on the process, much of it comes from the reenactment community, and I think that knowledge has spread more recently to modern fine art photographers who have begun to work with collodion.

Here's a wetplate reenactment photo that was posted just a few days ago on APUG (requires a subscription for the galleries, alas)--

http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29676&si=officer

Here's a page on Civil War reenactment photography--

http://www.cwreenactors.com/collodion/

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

There was a guy out there with a box camera, but inside was a cleverly mounted digital camera. He said it's too much work to do the plates.

He gave me hist best "Mathew Brady pose".

 

[Greg Rogers]

Ever tried sepia?

Hmmm, I noticed the slight sepia straight off before scrolling down to your post, Asher. One day we must talk you into calibrating your monitor.

Wonderful shots Nik, Eric. Both approaches work for me, both very well executed.

Regards,
Greg

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

Thanks Greg. As I started shooting, I was already putting the photos in sepia in my mind. I like the vintage look for these kinds of things. The color looks great too, I wanted to do something a little different.

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

There was a guy out there with a box camera, but inside was a cleverly mounted digital camera. He said it's too much work to do the plates.
He gave me hist best "Mathew Brady pose".

I was hoping you post this one

And yes, for some reason sepia does seem like a preferred treatment for this type of shots.
Here's what I did in 2005 ..;-)

Glad you got your link on their page, Eric! Any sales yet?

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

Very nice, Nik! I didn't post them to sell, necessarily, but you never know. Almost all of my sales are for aviation photography, which has been my primary focus. I am starting to branch out a bit now.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Nikolai and Eric,

It's such a pleasure to see this work as it is the pinnacle of devotion by such a huge number of people. It's part of the fabric of the USA history pride and shame with the idea that young men are sacrificed for these wars. Battle is necessay, noble and repugnant and yet somehow beautiful. An enigma to me that one can describe horror so.

Asher

 

[Eric Van Gilder]

I look at it as only recording something that people have put a lot of time and effort to do. My photos are a testament and witness to their hard work. It was a myriad of emotions for me. I am a veteran and have seen some grisly stuff in my day. Hearing the cannons and the yelling and all of the cacophony that is part of a firefight was tough to witness as a bystander. But at the same time, it was interesting and fascinating to see history acted out to provide a great teaching tool for young and old alike.