Well, I know this is supposed to be a travel photography blog, and I have been traveling lately (but again, can’t show the results just yet due to legal issues), but I am having a stone-cold blast working on my “New Hope: In Character” community portrait project.
New Hope, or Coryell’s Ferry as it was called at the time, was the place where Washington and his men crossed the Delaware to defeat the Hessians and the Brits in Trenton on Christmas Day all those years ago.
These guys re-enact that crossing every Christmas Day here in Bucks County. They get in those longboats, and unless the river is choked with ice, they row across Delaware come hell or high water. It’s an amazing sight to see and a Christmas morning tradition in these parts.
Now, I don’t want to say that they take their roles seriously, but some of the guys who re-enact the crossing had ancestors who were actually involved in the original crossing three hundred years ago. Can you say, “tradition?”
I was so appreciative that these gentlemen decided to come up and participate in this portrait project. In these parts, these guys are almost as famous as the men they are embodying.
For a look at the lighting setup, hit the jump.
It’s the same basic lighting I’ve been using all along. One DynaLite 400 Uni Jr. into a 4×6 foot Photoflex softbox. A black cutter card right behind the box to keep some light off the 12 foot painted canvas background. And two 4×6 Litepanels with white coverings as fill cards. Behind the fill cards, I’ve got another grid spotted Uni 400JR hitting the background to create some separation.
And here’s the painting that started it all. As an historical aside, the flag in the painting did not exist when Washington actually crossed the river. More than likely, they had the flag that is depicted in my photograph, not the original painting! Who says photographs lie?
William Beem
8 Mar 2010More than likely, Washington wasn’t standing up in that boat when he crossed, either. Who says paintings lie?
Bob
8 Mar 2010William:He does,however, stand up these days in the reenactments. Gotta have good sea legs to be GW! Bob
Aileen Ah-Tye
8 Mar 2010Loved the pix, the background, and especially the imagination and planning behind it. I bet your models had lots of fun, too. Sounds like a perfect “therapeutic” project.
Cheers,
Aileen and Dave
PS Please sign us up for Peggy’s book. If all works out this fall re our plans to visit the family, etc., that will be great.
Keep up the excellent work … what a pace you set.
Cheers,
Aileen and Dave
Jim Green
8 Mar 2010I’ve seen the re-enactment boats at Washington’s Crossing State Park. Those are some big boats! I don’t know which would be scarier, crossing the Delware in a small boat in the winter, or using the bridge at Washginton’s Crossing when a large RV is coming the other way.
George Washington
8 Mar 2010He most certainly stood up in the very deep Durham boats. They were made to hold heavy amounts of cargo and the sides are quite high. If he sat, you wouldn’t see him and the oarsmen would have no room to row. Beleive me…I know!
Mary Washington
8 Mar 201042 inches is deep? It was a blizard…never stand in a canoe!
Bob
9 Mar 2010I don’t want to step into this historical controversy, but the Durham boat is no canoe…it’s huge. Bob
Will Foster
8 Mar 2010sweet
Kevin Mayo
11 Mar 2010They have the reenactors at Valley Forge every year for Washington’s Birthday. One year I was there it was in the low 20’s with snow on the ground. I have some Kodachromes somwhere depicting them in those conditions
lindayoga
7 Aug 2011Very fun idea!
-Linda