The last four days have been absolutely unreal. Extremely hot (I'm burned to a crisp) but the rains held off until after the very last battle of the final day. And, what a battle it was!! The whole four days was history in the making. Over 15,000 reenactors (registered), over 400 horses, about 75 cannons - to put things in perspective, there were approximately tens times that number of participants in the actual battle. I got my first-ever REAL media pass. Met some photogs that were so gracious and friendly it was surreal. There were photogs from all over the WORLD! Poland, Spain, England, Australia, to name a few. Crowds averaged 30,000-40,000 and for the most part were VERY well-behaved (with exception of some vile children that really had no business being there). So much to see! So much activity!! I'm not going to bore y'all with stuff that may seem redundant. So, I'll post a link to the updated slideshow and you can check it now and then to see what's new. Picasa Web Albums - Gary J. Toth - Gettysburg 15... I only took two lenses out with me: I mounted the Tamron 18-200mm on my K-30 and the Sigma 170-500mm on my K-30. That's all I needed! I took the tripod for the K-30 and used my Stedi-stock EXTENSIVELY on the K-5. I'm VERY glad I took it as it works as advertised. Although, I should have used a CPL, I think I did pretty well with out it. As I mentioned before, I was bless with a media pass that got me up and above the crowd (no umbrellas or big heads! ) If you've never been to an event like this, you owe it to yourself to do so! These are more or less in reverse order because I got stupid. SOOOOoooo... without further ado...

After the largest cannonade and artillery duel ever conducted, General Pickett's infantry advances to "open the ball". Keep in mind, this is only the left side of the field. A panorama was out of the question as these guys advanced pretty quickly. Notice the darkening skies, too. AS SOON as this battle ended it rained in buckets!


The Confederate left. The rail fence you see traversed almost the complete field and was constructed specifically for this battle and to be torn down during the advance.


It is fairly difficult to catch muzzle flame from these guys. Notice the shutter speed!


Pickett's troops come through the fence on the Union left. Notice the "dead and wounded" the "body" on the fence. Mercifully, he didn't have to stay there too long.




Antiqued




A two-frame pano of the Union Center


BG G. A. Custer, US 6th Michigan Cavalry

[causey]

very entertaining series. Nice shots. TFS.

[SpecialK]

A spectacular event, for sure. I was there in Sep 09 and it was relatively peaceful :-)

[gjtoth]

very entertaining series. Nice shots. TFS.

Thanks very much.

[Bob Harris]

I've seen several reenactments when we were in the South but nothing like this, great coverage of the area. Really enjoyed this thread and narrative, TFS, Bob

[atupdate]

Great series. Your web album is well worth a look.

Tim

[gjtoth]

A spectacular event, for sure. I was there in Sep 09 and it was relatively peaceful :-)

This was anything BUT peaceful. Thanks for looking.

[gjtoth]

Great series. Your web album is well worth a look.

Tim

Thanks very much, Tim. Thanks for the plug, too!

I've seen several reenactments when we were in the South but nothing like this, great coverage of the area. Really enjoyed this thread and narrative, TFS, Bob

Thanks, Bob. The crowd was so big it was really difficult to NOT get them in the back/foreground somewhere. The vast majority I took had some dillweed with an umbrella or hand or something in the image. And, I was in the press towers!

[slowpez]

TFS these Gary. Gettysburg is an awesome place and it must have been a thrill to have been there for this event.

[gjtoth]

TFS these Gary. Gettysburg is an awesome place and it must have been a thrill to have been there for this event.

Thanks very much, Susan. It was quite a journey back in time. Only upon request did the reenactors come out of character. They assumed the identity of the person they played to perfection. Speaking of the President as "Mr. Lincoln" or "Mr. Davis", it was kind of eerie. From the photographer side, it was a very target-rich environment! Having a media pass helped get above the throng of spectators, but in most shots it was unavoidable to capture some or all of them. Cloning only goes so far.

Please DO have a look at the only album!