Or as some of my kinfolk call it... "The War of Northern Aggression!"
I was invited by my friend Steve Gustafson, a great photographer and nice guy, to come take part in the 150th anniversary of this historic battle just shy of Chattanooga, Tennessee. So I packed up the trusty Camry and headed for the hills. 9 hours later I made it... I had forgotten what it was like to live in a land that wasn't flat!
Just a little side note that has nothing of importance to anyone but myself. As we were approaching the site and asking if there was a place for media to park, I started to do the Three Stooges bit where they try to get into the horserace by using press knobs from the bathroom until Curly uses the pull knob and the cops start chasing them. Well, I had just explained why I kept saying "Press, Press... Pull... yuk yuk yuk!" to the guys in the car... as I often have to do since most of my jokes are only funny to me... when the police officer directing traffic stops us and says "Have you guys seen the Three Stooges bit Press, Press... Pull?" I don't know who that guy was, but he is my hero, and I had a feeling that it was going to be a good day.
When you come to an event like this, it really is sensory overload as there are just so many things to see and shoot. The clothes, the cannons and the beards! So what i try to do if i have the time is take the first bit and not shoot anything, but rather try to get my eye adjusted to all the visual stimulation so i wouldn't just be shooting at every shiny thing that I saw. There is a tendency to get into a rut of just clicking at everything, and I wanted to discipline my shooting. Less pictures...but better quality. It also helped knowing that I was going to be there for two days, so I was able to plan to have my better shooting happen on the second day, after I got my rhythm and was able to look over the first days captures and figure out what changes i wanted to make. Most people forget that the eye and creativity are just like other muscles and tend to need time to warm up, especially if you have been sitting in an office for days or weeks. I rarely can just jump right into a shooting environment and be firing on all cylinders, so i try to plan some extra time to warm up if possible.
One of the very first people I ran into was a guy with a great face lying on the grass by one of the tents. Turns out he and two other blokes were from London and just all around great guys with such wonderful faces. But our first day there we arrived at high-noon, so I took a couple of snaps of them and thought as I left them that I would love to do a portrait session with them when the lighting was better. i should have gone back and arranged that right then, because in spite of looking for them for the rest of the time, I never saw them again. I must remember seize the moment.
Three Blokes from London
I was with Steve and local photographer/celebrity Mike Daniel (it seemed everyone knew Mike) and we started wandering through the tents. We were able to go shoot each of the camps, and found it better shooting in the Northern Troops area since they were in the shade... just listening to the stories of how long a lot of these folks had been doing these re-enactments was incredible. Oh, and by the way... be careful who you call a Yankee! :D Some of these folks are serious!
We were able to get some neat shots of the Confederate soldiers mustering for the upcoming battle and were in a great position to capture the main battle when we were challenged by an overly uptight General who ordered us to move. (I was really tempted to remind the guy that all of this was pretend and that he wasn't a real general, but I don't think he would have appreciated it.) And thus began a side battle I like to call "The Great Disappointment of 2013" You see, we moved to a middle ground that would be just OK for getting shots of the main battle and even had a lovely French photographer named Brice come join us. But getting good shots of the battle would be tolerated... right before the battle a soldier on horseback was dispatched to tell us we had to move once again to a position even farther away. Once we made it past the viewing bleachers we were once again asked to move down even further so as not to disturb the spectators. We were now approximately 500 yards or more from the main area of conflict. To make matters worse, most of the cannons being fired and the actual battle was taking place in the middle of the trees or behind them, so all we could see was puffs of smoke and random sounds of the conflict. Let's just say that there were a lot of disappointed photographers and news folks. Turns out that there was a film company that had paid to film the battle and that lead the organizers to give them carte blanche and give all the other folks the shaft and put them so far out that it was almost laughable. So a lot of us walked away from the first day less than pleased with the event and the folks running it.
So it was with trepidation that we decided to try it again the second day. Rain had moved through and soaked everything, but it left wonderful clouds and perfect light for the big battle. Having been relegated to the cheap seats even though we had press passes the day before, we decided to try to be a little bolder and smarter this day. We met and joined up with the area CBS news reporter Jessica and hitched a ride with her in her news truck emblazoned with all of the ubiquitous stickers that let folks know that serious news is being filmed. Can't hurt to look important right? Well, we get set up in the prime spot to be able to capture the main action... several other photographers from other news sources were there as well. Jessica was ready to stand her ground after hearing our story from the day before... she had the freedom of press on her side and she was not going to be moved. Shortly after we got there... once again, a rider was dispatched to tell us to move from the area. Jessica told him we were not moving and he lost the battle of wills and left. Hooray for Jessica! I am not below letting a woman fight my battles for me... I am pretty sure she is tougher than me by a long shot! :D Shortly thereafter another uptight "General" showed up... I not sure if he was another one or the same one from yesterday... they start to blend together :D He said in no uncertain terms that we had to move out of the area and set up across the road... which might as well have been located in New Jersey due to how far away it was. He said that they were filming a movie and they had paid for the right to do so, therefore everyone else had to clear out of the way and there was no arguing the point. Jessica tried to sweet talk him, but money won over chivalry and we had to go. Our group of despondent folks headed back to the truck, along the way we had to pass an old cinderblock shack and I told the guys to keep walking. I jumped behind the wall and climbed in the window of the shack to hide. My crew got in the truck and left the area... and I found out later that Jessica took down a whole list of names and was going to let her station know how unhelpful the event coordinators were. (I am glad I am not on her naughty list) My buddies Steve and Mike got some great shots of an osprey that landed in a tree near them... since that was about the only thing worth shooting from their position across the street and up the hill... about half a mile away. (Ok, it wasn't quite that far, but it felt that way and left them with little to shoot.)
Meanwhile back in the shack...
When we last left me, I was climbing through the window of the shack and found myself face to face with three other photographers that had the same idea. Long time newspaper photographer Rick Owens and his posse were trying to be inconspicuous and quiet and not doing too great a job at either. There we were trying not to be caught in a tiny shack with broken windows and a door that would not close all the way. We figured... heck all they can do is kick us out, and once the battle starts they will be too busy to worry about us. Another thought we had was that the shack was not a period structure, so the movie folks wouldn't have it in any of their shots... and this gave us hope/comfort as we tried to justified our Civil Disobedience... (See what I did there with my word play, since we were at a Civil War re-enactment. :D)
Shack shooters
Next thing we knew, the troops started marching our way and the cannons rolled in. The cannons were literally about twenty feet beside the shack to our right and the troops came in and surrounded the shack around front and down the road to our left. This gave us some great opportunities to shoot the troops mustering as we tried to be sneaky and quiet and shoot out of the side windows of the shack in rotation since the room was a bit cramped. At one point the soldiers were two feet in front of the door which we managed to get shut and barricade with a broken piece of wood... (I wanted to yell out "You'll never take us alive!" but the other shooters talked me out of it. :D)
I never thought about it before, but what do you do if you are a soldier in the Civil or war or Mock-Civil War and you need to go to the bathroom? Well, you look for an innocent looking shack and go around back and take care of business. Most of the soldiers spotted us and had a good laugh and told us to watch out where we pointed out cameras while they relieved themselves and I of course replied something witty about needing a bigger lens... and we all had a good chuckle. But, then my shack-mates said to be very quiet as there was someone in the next room-like enclosure on the side of the shack... doing his business and he was not just peeing. I thought they were joking, but turns out that bears may go in the woods, but soldiers go in shacks! :D
We had a wonderful time in what became known as the Shitter-Shack. It was a day filled with a mixture of danger and intrigue along with trying to not laugh out loud so as to be found out... that only comes when you find yourself in a ridiculous situation of your own making. The end result was that we were in a great place to shoot the battle and got some wonderful shots. Oh, and by the way one of the camera crews from the film company came by and asked apologetically if they had gotten in the way of any of our shots. Then they asked if we had any pictures of them in action for their facebook pages. So once again I find that it is usually the Generals in our lives that are uptight and full of their own power while the foot soldiers are the ones trying to get things done and end up being fodder for the someone else's folly.
When one of the main guys responsible for the event was asked to respond about how the photographers and news were treated, and that it may lead to negative press, he responded that he didn't care. I am tempted to list his name and others who did such a bad job communicating and organizing, but that would be motivated out of spite, and I want to be better than that. I will say that if you are planning to take part in one of these events in this area in the future to be aware and perhaps look into going somewhere else.
Bottom line, trips like this are great if you can come away with some good pictures, and I think I have a few. But, the real treasure is the friendships and stories made. Thank you Steve for the invite and opening up your home and your heart. You certainly married up... especially with that hair of yours! Mike, great to meet you and become your friend... even if you shoot Nikon. We can't all be perfect like me! To Rick Owens and my shack-mates, it was a wonderful day with you guys in the trenches!
