Before The Secret City War of '08

Trying to tweak the photo galleries here...so I am trying a new widget for Flickr.com. The photos in this are all from past years at the Secret City Festival reenactment.

The Secret City War '08 - TechnoColor

The Secret City War '08 - Part III

The Secret City War '08 - Part II

The Bully Beef Series

The Secret City War '08

One of my other incarnates is an British ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Services) correspondent. I usually do this with a living history group who does WWII British Airborne. We recently went to an event in Oak Ridge, TN called the Secret City Festival. It has all the standard festival stuff -music, crafts, and food. But it also features two fictional battles done by reenactors portraying fractions from America, the UK, Germany and France (Viva La Resistance!) and encampments. So, what do I do? I run around with period cameras...

I am going to post these during the next few days. So here are the first...

Mariongrad

Marion, KY. It isn't really historic, but the game is as old as imagination. As long as there has been a desire to play toy soldiers, war gaming has been popular past time. And then there is something about stepping back in time or at least attempting such as a feat and putting on the shoes (or muddy boots) of our forefathers. This is the thrill of reenacting for me.

In this regard, this past weekend found me in Marion, KY with my comrades, wearing the WWII uniform of the Red Army (it never hurts to walk a few miles in other's shoes) and taking out my newest addition to the camera collection into the field (woods). It is a 1937 Fed 1. Basically it looks like Leica (but it so isn't). Needless to say there were a few unforeseen glitches - film jams and take-up spool issues (yes, yes, yes, I shot a role to try it out before hand). I admit this is the first time my camera equipment included pliers.

Ultimately, I lost several photographs (I am trying not to mourn them, but it is hard). But the few I did get are on flickr. Ultimately, I still have to get to know this camera. The results tease me enough to continue the relationship.

Also, for those of you wanting to experience Mariongrad, it is an event that is not a public demonstration. However, if you would like to join The 19th Brigade of the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps (the Red Army -reenacting group), just leave a comment, and I'll try to get you to the right people.

www.flickr.com

Living Fort Loudoun

Vonore, Tennessee. You will probably notice that this posting is a little different from my explorations of history. You may have also missed that I did not post this past Saturday. The following pictures will explain the reason. Rather than sitting at the computer, I went about another huge interest of mine. I have long been into living history and currently, one of my personas is a laundress (not laundry wench, L-A-U-N-D-R-E-S-S, thank you very much) with the Independent Company of South Carolina. We portray the life at Historic Fort Loudoun, where the British Redcoats, the Provincials, the Cherokees, the laundress and like, lived during the 1750s (French and Indian War). I will feature Fort Loudoun as I have the other sites, but for now, I give you the people who bring it to life...