Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

[Diochra]

Can hardly believe we're into April already—and that means it's time to start submitting images for the May AC cover! As always:

We are looking for images that best-exemplify the look of the authentic living historian. Images taken with period technology only are required (wet plate, pencil drawing, field sketches, etc.) Again this month, please, no "images of the dead". We have had two "dead" covers recently and that is plenty for a while.

Submission Guidelines:

1) We will accept the first ten image submissions only. The thread will be closed after the tenth image is submitted, and any images submitted after the tenth will be deleted from the thread.

2) Once we have ten images, the staff will select the final three. The final three will then be put up for a general vote to the membership of the forum. The winning image will be placed on the front "cover" of the web site for one month.

3) Make sure and attach the photo to your post. If necessary, we will crop the photo for the best fit.

4) The Moderators/Administrators reserve the right to remove any submittals that they feel don't meet the standards of the Authentic Campaigner.

Now, let's see your best images!

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

I would really like to make a May cover in lieu of it being Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, in commemoration of the contributions Asian Americans have made to this fine country. Congress even chose May because of 19th cent. provence: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the Trans-Continental Railroad on May 10, 1869. Submitted:

This is my portrayal of Chinese immigrant, John Tommy (sic Tomney) during his supposed photographing in Fredericksburg, Va. in 1862.

I'm wearing a New York State Jacket that, although has not yet been documented to the 70th Regiment, has been identified to sister units (71st, 72d) of the Excelsior Brigade to which the 70th belonged. Similarly, I'm wearing a blue contract shirt that has been seen in a photograph of the 71st Regiment in the Library of Congress. Even the tin cup was documented to a New York State soldier, Daniel Heyden of the 149th New York Infantry.

My pose is actually based on a period plate, so it's not one that I just dreamt up (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7844207...7600359089400/). Tommy, at one point, was a nurse during the war and I wanted to convey a look of "stewardship" in this particular sitting rather than an armed military pose.

I forgot to mentioned that I was 20 years old when I had this portrait taken. Tommy would have been 19-20 years at the time of his sitting.

1/6 tintype by R. J. Szabo in 2002.

Thanks folks,

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Well Id like to already put a plug in for Mr JC Spellman. His level of commitment to history is exemplified in his documentation of Tommy and the reasoning and choices made in preparing for the plate to be taken. Obviously he has researched the appropriate military material culture pertinent to the person and unit chosen and has provided his documentation for such. He has selected a pose which is renown to be a popular one in studio images and has left the gun elsewhere. If the photo was taken at an event, Bob & Jason chose to backdrop and crop the image so that it is a convincing studio image and not just another reenactors attempt at a studio portrait with grass underneath his feet or a blank backdrop to highlight all his superfluous gear. While I may be jumping the gun so early in the game for April, I have had my fill of people showing off their arms or newest piece of gear and have been craving a good quality, simple and convincing studio image for many months. Thanks to Jason for this submission and his continued commitment to perpetuating the memory of the Asian experience during the war. Bully! I submit the following as well, an image from a fellow in the 11th Michigan.

[DougCooper]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Can hardly believe we're into April already—and that means it's time to start submitting images for the May AC cover! As always:

Again this month, please, no "images of the dead". We have had two "dead" covers recently and that is plenty for a while.

Thanks Ashley - glad to see this.

[Burgoo Boy]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

I really like Jason's too. He has a unique impression that is top notch. He's my vote already.

Please....No "team" images.

Jason Whitman
Too cool to be hardkewl, Mess

[Old Reb]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

I usually don't give a rats back end about the photo contest, finding it too often the same old same old wrapped in a new box, but Mr.Spellman's photo not only is unique, but enlightens us to an aspect of the war we don't often see. Very good!

[sam H]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

I was gonna post a picture but I dont want to go up against Jason. He definitley has put the research into an impression that often is questioned. Good dude, Good tude.

"cooter up!"

[minieball]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

I have to agree. Jason's image is superb. Bob really knows how to bring out something special in someone who has an exceptional impression.

Jason already has my vote.....

[plankholder]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010



Greetings from Baghdad all! I cant compete with Jason, and he will get my vote, but for the sake of getting this over with, here is another submission. A wetplate image from Tim Parson circa summer of 99, taken in a historic village in Alabama. Thanks.

[PvtShot]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Real stiff comp but what the heck, we'll give it a go!

Attached are two pictures of the Buckras at Perryville 2006 (AoP). In this photo: Clifton Hicks, Joey Frutchey, Ross Lamoreaux , Jerry Gouge, Hal Merritt, Gary Graffweg, and myself. All been done before I'm sure, but still a lot of fun. (Photos by Wendell Decker).

[boreguard]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

This tin type is of Dennis Neal & Mike Pretus of the 16th Louisiana. The image was shot at Port Hudson March 26th, 2010 by Bruce Schultz. Major Pretus deploys' to Afghanistan in three more weeks with the USMC. We had the image struck to memorialize our friendship and mutual love of the hobby even though Mike will be in the green zone in Kabul. Respectfully submitted.

[Diochra]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Thanks Ashley - glad to see this.

Thank Eric Tipton—it's his admonishment, and I'm simply keeping it in. ;)

[PvtShot]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Gents and Gentlewomen,

In my haste to speed up the eventual championship award to Mr. Spellman, I posted two images. I have since been corrected that only one image may be posted so after a coin flip, here's my contender!

"The Buckras" from top to bottom left to right: Clifton Hicks, Joey Frutchey, Ross Lamoreaux, Jerry Gouge, Gary Graffweg, Hal Merritt and Eliot Toscano...

Souls stolen by Wendell Decker at Perryville 2006.

Cheers!

[musketbal]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Jason has put many hours and time into this hobby. He was kind to me and I think he would be a great pick for this month's cover. Just my opinion.
Thanks,
Brent Conner

[Spinster]

Re: Wanna be on the cover of the AC? May 2010

Alrighty, it seems I've seen this situation before--an exceptionally fine early entrant, a standing rule against entering an image repeatedly, and folks hanging back in putting up enough images to get done. Gone are the days of the monthly thread opening and closing in a matter of hours.

So, here's my throwaway image to get the numbers up:

In her writings, Kate Cummings railed against her contemporaries in Mobile, as rich young ladies went out into the countryside, buying homespun dresses off the poor, and passing it off as their own patriotic industry.

Our tribute to that: Three Cheers? Whose Homespun Dress?





Image: Wendall Decker
Selma, Alabama, probably about 2005, but time blurs a lot of things
With handpainted backdrop, of nearby bluffs and gunboats
Standing: Mrs. Christopher Moore (nee Alice Thompson)
Seated: Mrs. David Lawson (nee Terresa Hood)

Wheel is a castle type parlour wheel, back at Selma just to prove it worked, as it laid underwater for several hours the prior year when water rose suddenly on the site. While my wheel at the time the image was made, after several years of sighing and sidelong looks, I gifted it to Mrs. Moore when she finished her master's degree. It now lives with her in Charleston, South Carolina and works at Middleton Plantation and Drayton Hall.

This parlour wheel type would have been less typical for the area than the five foot 'great wheel'--but that thing takes up more transport space than I have. As it is, my great wheel requires a bedroom all its own at my house, and I am living for the day the Mrs. Moore gets her own home and takes it from me too.

My dress is a simple light blue print, well worn and passed through several hands before making it to me. Made by Linda Gray, and one of the most comfortable dresses I ever owned. Sister absconded it with shortly thereafter, and I think some nice young schoolteacher in South Alabama has it now. The slat bonnet is a white sheer, and I lost it to the Bayou Yeti at Banks Grand Retreat.

Mrs. Moore is wearing a patriotic red plaid, with a black bonnet and light traveling veil. Rich girls being who they are, and the used clothing market being what it is, both dress and bonnet are now owned by a free woman of color. Mrs. Moore's shawl is true homespun, of Alabama wool, and still in our hands--some things you just don't let get away. Alas, we were not fully prepared for this image, or our indigo dyed homespun dress with the chinquapin buttons would have been present as well. It shows its years of work and use, as the dark blue is now silver on the shoulders, and the whole thing would benefit from turning.

There now, I've used up enough time when I should be loading for an upcoming school program. The very thought of thousands of little children sends my head spinning just like the wheel.........:tounge_sm