All Photos © Jim Shoemaker. All Rights Reserved. Any use without written permission of the photographer is prohibited. Click on photo thumbnails for a larger view. Click on the large photo to bring up a larger version.
A few words about my images:
I do not do batch processing or run photoshop actions on my images. I process each one individually; according to it's needs and what I had envisioned at the time I made the exposure. As a result, it tends to take me longer to process and post my images than someone who batch processes. I also heavily edit my photos; meaning that I may shoot 300 or more images during a day's event, but process and post only 30 or so because some images fail to meet my expectations or are simply redundant. This also takes considerably more time than someone who simply uploads every photo they captured during the day, forcing the viewer to wade through hundreds of images.
My goal is to capture the feeling and emotion of wartime, even though it's a reenactment. It is my hope that the images pay tribute to the soldiers of that era as well as current veterans, and this is something that cannot be done if one merely sees the reenactment as "a fun event with cool battles". The photos must tell a story, have feeling, capture a moment and (hopefully) evoke emotion from the viewer. Also, I try to shoot in such a way as to minimize or eliminate the spectators (a difficult and sometimes impossible task) because seeing them pulls the viewer out of the time and place of the civil war. I process the images in a way not to merely mimic photos from the civil war era (ambrotypes, tintypes, calotypes, etc.) but rather to infer a feeling of antiquity. Unfortunately, it's impossible to see all the details and aging textures of the photos in the format presented here, but hopefully the viewer will get the idea.
The presentation and look of the photos will vary from monitor to monitor. I tend to process the images dark with rich tones and strong contrast. If they appear light with washed colors or low contrast, it's due to the settings of your monitor. It's the photographer's curse of presenting on the internet.
Please enjoy the photos and feel free to comment in the guest book section of my website. If you enjoy history, please view my gallery on Native Americans by clicking on the "Galleries" button in the above menu.
A few words about my images:
I do not do batch processing or run photoshop actions on my images. I process each one individually; according to it's needs and what I had envisioned at the time I made the exposure. As a result, it tends to take me longer to process and post my images than someone who batch processes. I also heavily edit my photos; meaning that I may shoot 300 or more images during a day's event, but process and post only 30 or so because some images fail to meet my expectations or are simply redundant. This also takes considerably more time than someone who simply uploads every photo they captured during the day, forcing the viewer to wade through hundreds of images.
My goal is to capture the feeling and emotion of wartime, even though it's a reenactment. It is my hope that the images pay tribute to the soldiers of that era as well as current veterans, and this is something that cannot be done if one merely sees the reenactment as "a fun event with cool battles". The photos must tell a story, have feeling, capture a moment and (hopefully) evoke emotion from the viewer. Also, I try to shoot in such a way as to minimize or eliminate the spectators (a difficult and sometimes impossible task) because seeing them pulls the viewer out of the time and place of the civil war. I process the images in a way not to merely mimic photos from the civil war era (ambrotypes, tintypes, calotypes, etc.) but rather to infer a feeling of antiquity. Unfortunately, it's impossible to see all the details and aging textures of the photos in the format presented here, but hopefully the viewer will get the idea.
The presentation and look of the photos will vary from monitor to monitor. I tend to process the images dark with rich tones and strong contrast. If they appear light with washed colors or low contrast, it's due to the settings of your monitor. It's the photographer's curse of presenting on the internet.
Please enjoy the photos and feel free to comment in the guest book section of my website. If you enjoy history, please view my gallery on Native Americans by clicking on the "Galleries" button in the above menu.
Best viewed at a monitor resolution of 1280 x 854 or higher.
All Photography © Jim Shoemaker. All Rights Reserved.
All Photography © Jim Shoemaker. All Rights Reserved.
