October 2023 - Firing a Musket in Colonial Williamsburg
Original
About the Image(s)
This image and the auxiliary image of a milliner may not qualify as authentic travel images, but I made them during the annual PSA Photo Festival that was held last week in Williamsburg, VA, to give those of you who did not attend (everybody except Stan and myself) a taste of what you missed. Prior to the formal presentations, I toured Colonial Williamsburg, a historic district and living-history museum that was originally built during colonial America (18th century). The buildings have been rebuilt or rehabbed according to the original plans, and actors in period costume depict daily Colonial life in the streets, stores and workshops. Here, a soldier demonstrated how to load and fire a musket. The auxiliary panel shows a milliner at work in her workshop.
Sony a6400 camera (APS-C) with an Sony 18-105m lens at 23mm (35mm equivalent), f/7.1, 1/1000” (burst mode), ISO 640.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 5 comments posted
Dr. Isaac Vaisman
(Group 4)
Nancy, you are presenting this month an image just "out of the oven" not even 24 hours since the Williamsburg Festival finished. You capture the firing at peak of moment in time, showing all the smoke created. I just wonder if you aheve an image a second or two after the firing and when the gunman lowered slightly the musket so we could appreciate his face and perhaps there is still some smoke around the Musket. When I visited the area, I was too far away from the gunman when he fired, and I asked him when the next firing would be, but that was the last of the morning, and i would have to wait until later in the day, which I could not do. The image is sharp, and at least it was not raining at The moment. Posted: 10/01/2023 11:49:03
Adrian Binney
I like your timing Nancy. Your shot is about the firing of an old weapon, rather than the individual. The canons to the rear add to the interest and to the time period. Thank you for sharing and I assume you enjoyed the festival. Posted: 10/03/2023 07:22:50
Stan Bormann
You needed a continous burst of shots to have much chance of getting the smoke from both ends of the barrel and in some cases fire coming out of the end of the barrel. On some cellphones you can pull a single out of a video. Posted: 10/07/2023 21:43:28
Michele Borgarelli
Thank you Nancy for sharing this image. My daughter graduate from William and Mary, so I am very familiar with Colonial Williamsburg and the area. I hope you had the possibility to visit the archeological area of Jamestown. The museum is very interesting.
You captured a very nice moment of this scenery and also an interesting portrait. These people are used to be photographed thousand of times a day, so they look natural. Posted: 10/10/2023 15:28:39
Dennis Deeny
Wish we could have made the trip. We lived in Northern VA for 18 years so we have been to Williamsburg quite a few times. Very representative photo and well timed.
Posted: 10/24/2023 12:08:48
