Gathering at the Princeton Battlefield

#WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project conducted by explorers from around the world. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other’s artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this, using nothing more than a single 35mm lens.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States as we honour and remember those who gave their lives in service to our country.

Thank you to the dedicated men and women of the United States armed services and those who came before them and laid down their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy each day.

Here's wishing you all a safe, happy and healthy Memorial Day.


This is my fifth blog post for the WE35 Research Project. Expedition May's assignment was to photograph a local gathering, celebration, or festival and tell its story using three images, all shot at a 35mm field of view (FOV). I used my AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 VR lens, set the focal length to 24mm and taped it in place. On my Nikon D5100, that focal length has a FOV that approximates a 36mm full-frame lens.

Princeton Battlefield Park, Revolutionary Re-enactment
Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

The three images are of a totem, a moment and a portrait. The totem is a photograph of an object of significance for the event. A creative goal of this project was to remove the barrier between the photographer and the subject. The Expedition hopes you get involved in the event by making a portrait of someone and not standing on the sidelines. The final part of the Expedition was to choose one moment that genuinely illustrates the event's spirit. I think I captured those images, plus a few more.

Civial War Trust Memorial Day Reenactment at Princeton Battlefield Park
Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

Meg Martin and Jim Campi at the Civil War Trust and Jeff Griffith, one of the Creative Directors for the Civil War Trust, invited me to photograph the Spirit of Princeton Memorial Day Parade on Saturday, 27 May. I had plans for the day and initially declined but then decided that I would have more fun spending my morning in Princeton instead of at Target and Costco.

I got more than I expected.

Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

The parade started at 10 am on the corner of Princeton Ave., and Nassau St. Parade marchers walked the length of Nassau Street south to Princeton Monument Hall on Stockton Street. The parade was a gathering of local organisations, including veterans, Princeton Cub Scout Pack 43, Princeton First Aid and Rescue, MacGregor Pipe Band, Colonial Musketeers, Veterans and Assorted Military Vehicles and many others. After a brief ceremony at the hall at 11 am, the Civil War Trust, the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line and the 43rd Regiment of Foot went over to Princeton Battlefield Park.

Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

"[The Second Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line and the 43rd Regiment of Foot]" (http://www.243regiment.com/index.html) is a non-profit educational organisation created in 1966 to accurately depict both sides of the struggle for America's independence. The group is involved in living history programs and historical interpretation of the Battle of Princeton.

The dedicated members of our growing and dynamic group strive to portray the men and women involved in the armies of the American Revolution with fidelity and to bring the past alive at historic sites, commemorations and battle reenactments throughout the region and beyond.

Civial War Trust Memorial Day Reenactment at Princeton Battlefield Park, Princeton, New Jersey
Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

I had the opportunity to chat with members of the group. They were enthusiastic, and I could tell they took their work seriously.

Civial War Trust Memorial Day Reenactment at Princeton Battlefield Park, Princeton, New Jersey
Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

The group performed a historical interpretation of the battle at Princeton Battlefield Park. The booming sound and smoke of rifles and cannons filled the air.

Civial War Trust Memorial Day Reenactment at Princeton Battlefield Park, Princeton, New Jersey
Saturday 27 May 2017 · Nikon D5100 · 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

The Photo Frontier's #WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project by explorers worldwide. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other's artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this uses nothing more than a single 35mm lens.

WE35 - Double Exposure

#WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project conducted by explorers from around the world. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other’s artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this, using nothing more than a single 35mm lens. We will achieve this goal through monthly assignments designed to expand your creativity like never before, foster an encouraging community where we can discuss one another’s work and provide opportunities for critiques and constructive feedback.The Photo Frontier

Double exposure is a technique that originated with film photography where you would expose the same frame of film twice (or more). The film can only be exposed to light so much before it will stop recording information. So the part of the film that was darker after first exposure will be most receptive to the light from the second click.Sara Byrne

For the double exposure expedition, I had two challenges to overcome. The first was that I was not familiar with this feature of my Nikon D5100. How does it work? How do I enable it? What are the limitations? I needed to understand how to enable and use this feature and work with the limitations of my camera.

I found the D5100 double exposure mode in the shooting menu but decided to read the camera manual before I enable it. I learned that once enabled, I had only thirty minutes between shooting the first frame and shooting the next. After thirty minutes the D5100 would automatically disable double exposure mode.

The second challenge I had to overcome was with the composition. I had never captured double exposure images before. What sorts of interesting things could I shoot? What could I accomplish with the limitations of my camera? I struggled to think of composition. So I had to try and figure out what sort of double exposures compositions would be interesting but also done quickly. I needed to do some research. After some research1, I decided on doing portraits.

I learned with experimentation that I needed to shoot the portrait against a bright background (e.g. the sky) for the first frame. Then I could shoot the next frame as a mask. Darker images worked better for the mask.

For this image, I persuaded my daughter to let me use her as a model. I used a white piece of cardboard for the background and the ground cover in the front yard for the mask.

It took some practice to avoid overexposure, which can flare the outline of the silhouetted subject. I think I did well, given my inexperience. I think one improvement would be to compose against a pure white background, filling the frame with the subjects head.

[exif id="25437"]

The Contact Sheet

This month's #WE35 expedition is ‘The Contact Sheet’. Apparently back in the day[^1], film photographers would make a print of all the images they had shot on a roll of film. The images would be printed, thumbnail size, on a single sheet of photographic paper. The photographer could then review the images and pick the one or more images she wanted to print.

I have never created a contact sheet.

#WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project conducted by explorers from around the world. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other’s artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this, using nothing more than a single 35mm lens. We will achieve this goal through monthly assignments designed to expand your creativity like never before, foster an encouraging community where we can discuss one another’s work and provide opportunities for critiques and constructive feedback.The Photo Frontier

I took these images during a still life and tabletop photography workshop hosted by Princeton Photography Workshop. Photographer Frank Veronsky instructed our small group on lighting and staging before we set to work photographing anything we could find in his studio. I decided to shoot some squash and a vintage film camera brought by one of the students. I considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey.

I used Frank's homemade reflectors to bounce light coming in from his studio windows. It was a fairly cloudless day so we had a great deal of light. I also tried blocking the light using dark coloured and black painted surfaces. One thing that I had to pay special attention to was the focal length of my lens. My Nikon D5100 has an APS-C sensor and I do not own a 24mm (~35mm full-frame equivalent) lens. I used my AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX lens and set the focal length to 24 mm. One of the restrictions of the expedition is that photographers must shoot as though they were shooting film. I only had 36 negatives on my roll so I had to slow down and concentrate on what I was doing.

[exif id="24846"]

Making the pick was also a slow process. None of the images was post-processed. I re-considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey. The image I picked from the contact sheet conveys, in my opinion, the idea of fall. The orange-red-yellow of the squash match the orange-red-yellow of the autumn leaves that one sees in New Jersey during that time of year. One thing I would have liked to add is a few sticks of cinnamon to invoke the memory of the spices that one might smell in the house when someone is baking the squash.