February 20, 1998

Hoop skirts and harlots.

There are no two ways about it. I love event photography! County fairs. Tractor pulls. Rodeos and races. Where ever there are faces to photograph I am a happy girl.

Feb. 14-16 was one of my faves. A Civil War re-enactment at Calico Ghost Town. Lots of people in period clothes and costumes wandering the streets of the old mining town- and Abe Lincoln reviewing the Union Troops.

Many of the participants in this event were very young men - 15 and 16 year old men-boys playing at war; firing canons and waving flags. I was mesmerized by their faces and how much they looked like their far distant counterparts in their Union caps and Confederate homespun.

Working girl Re-enactment support groups included harlots, wives, girlfriends and mothers. (click to see rest of images)

Women played their parts much as they did in the 1860's - by keeping the home fires burning and "entertaining" the troops. One girl in particular was so colourful as she smoked her cigar letting the smoke trail seductively and defiantly from her lips. She stood on the steps of the old whore house calling out to the men in uniform, thanking them for the pleasures of the night before - all in good fun and mostly good taste. After all, this was a family event. Ladies, not workin' girls, strolled about in hoop skirts and crinolines looking every inch southern and northern belles. They were the wives, mothers and sweethearts of those dashing young and not so young men whose bodies would soon litter the make-believe fields of war.

I wanted to be a close to the action as possible without ruining the authenticity of the event for those participating and those spectating. To achieve this, the president of the area Civil War society dressed me in a union greatcoat and cap. This was so that from the back, close to the battles I would look like I belonged.

My new "traveling companion" was dressed similarly as he was shooting video for a local production company. We looked WAY too authentic as at one point several soldiers shot at us as we did our own shooting from under a bridge, smack dab in the middle of a running battle. Well, we didn't KNOW they were going to be battling there. Just looked like a good location from which to shoot.

Although the Friday before the event had been clear and warm, Saturday was abysmal. Cold. Rainy. WET. Wet wool smells like dead sheep. I wrapped the camera and the different lenses in plastic wrap to keep them dry. What a major pain in the tookus! The wrap kept coming unwrapped and I wound the stuff so tight around the zoom lens I couldn't get the zoom to zoom.

But perseverance usually pays off and this time was no different. Good images can come from bad times. Well, not "bad" times - just trying times....the kind of times that can test a woman's dedication to getting the job done.

You just have NO idea what a Union Cap can do to one's hair!

HEINLEIN

February 20, 1998