English Civil War Reenactment

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Rich
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Got one of the above happening in my town over the weekend and will hopefully get some pics

I have no idea how to approach it though, not sure even what range of lens to use. Thinking ultra wide to get all the players in, should be about a thousand in the skirmish. There again would it be best to capture smaller cameos, just don't know

Any ideas gratefully received especially from previous experience

Cheers
Rich
 
Ok, I do know a little on this subject...

Rather depends what type of approach you want to take... is it "this is what it looked like in history" or "this is a bunch of people dressed up in old clothes entertaining the public".

If its the former, watch your backgrounds - its going to be hard as a MOP (member of the public) to get clean backgrounds, but pay attention and you will spot something. Obviously the tighter the shot the better the chance of not having an ice cream van or bouncy castle in the background. Something nice and long lens wise will let you reach in and pull out some good candid portrait type stuff. A long zoom is the trick here - 120-300 or 100-400 type.

The latter type of shot, let it all hang out - you are capturing the event nothing else. Bouncy castles, spectators - try some shots from inside the crowd looking through a gap to show people watching something.

Oh and if not candids, if wandering around camp (and do do that!) and using something shorter to take photos of people and kit - talk to the reenactors! They love to talk and love to be in photos - if you want them to pose, tell them what you want, don't be afraid. Sweeten them by having a card with a web address where they can see them or your flickr account name etc.

Lastly, the English Silly War period didn't have photography so don't feel the need to make every photo B&W or sepia or vignetted or whatever. Thats really tacky.

Hope that helps!
 
Thanks very much for your advice, just the sort of thing I wanted

St Ives has a historic bridge which they are going to recreate blowing up then march off to a nearby location for the skirmish
Would really like to show it as it was in that period rather than a carnival

Did wonder about having a look around the camp and from what you have said definitley will

Not really my cup of tea, but know a couple who participate in these mock battles and seem to have a great time

Will do my best and post some pics up on here early next week. Must say I hadn't thought of going B&W, can only imagine how daft that would seem

Thanks again for your reply
 
Hi. I've been to some of these 'living history' events. They're great fun and people love to talk - the American Civil War society were able to bore for America on the ins and outs of what they do!

They often have a 'realistic' camp where nothing modern is allowed (e.g. mobile phones) but its fun to look for anachronistic errors as well as trying to capture the spirit of the event.

What reeeeally annoys me [rant on] is that they don't teach school kids about the English Civil War, so what's the point? Who's Oliver Cromwell, then? Doh! There's some political nonsense about not teaching kids here about their own history - what is that about? [/rant off]
 
Definitely get into the camp and look for photo ops and if not obvious, build your own with the people - seriously they love to play at being models!

Reenactors are olympic class borers? Never :D

Children not knowing about history Carol? Its not a new thing, there are plenty of adults whose knowledge is pitiful too - including many who actually were alive during particular periods of history - doesn't mean they know j@ck5h1t about it!
 
desantnik said:
Definitely get into the camp and look for photo ops and if not obvious, build your own with the people - seriously they love to play at being models!

Reenactors are olympic class borers? Never :D

Children not knowing about history Carol? Its not a new thing, there are plenty of adults whose knowledge is pitiful too - including many who actually were alive during particular periods of history - doesn't mean they know j@ck5h1t about it!
Click to expand...
My grouse is that they are not taught English history. In a generation it'll all be lost
 
Nah, it won't be lost any more than something like the history of any period of English history or anyone else's history is lost.

It might not be publicly to the forefront, but its not lost.

Besides, which bit of history do you refer to... surely its all important ;-)
 
desantnik said:
Nah, it won't be lost any more than something like the history of any period of English history or anyone else's history is lost.

It might not be publicly to the forefront, but its not lost.

Besides, which bit of history do you refer to... surely its all important ;-)
Click to expand...


English civil war for one thing. Kids learn about ww2 but not about other important events. At least the living history groups enable kids to experience and ask questions.
 
Yes, but history is just one subject for the little darlings to learn - they do need to learn other stuff too!

For every historical event they do learn about I could suggest another one that was equally important... to get a real grasp of history you'd probably need to study it for your entire life!

A lot of things have happened :)
 
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