Vote For the August Cover

[Eric Tipton]

Greetings:

It is time to vote for the August Cover of the Authentic Campaigner. Please vote for the image that you feel is the most authentic. If your image is one of the final three, we are requiring that you provide some background information about the inspiration or impression for the image in this thread.

We encourage conversation about the impressions portrayed as well as any documentation that might be available that would add to the discussion. The intent of the selection process is to determine why you think one image is superior to another.

Image #1 - Click here to view.
Image #2 - Click here to view.
Image #3 - Click here to view.

Thanks to everyone who submitted. Good luck to the finalists.

This poll will close in four days.

[rebjeb04]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Wow,

This is a tough one! I'm going to lean more towards the two dashing Southern officers. However the other two images are strong as well, and I think it would be a rather tight race.

Thanks,
Erik McBroom

[NY Pvt]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Good photos this month. Photo #2 could have been pards with this guy:

http://news.webshots.com/photo/2401719030081485148oZowFv

[Corn_Cob]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

They are all great, but those eyes, that beard, the bowie and battleshirt steal the show.

[mightyreb]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

I must admit all the photographs are real good but i'll take #3 for $100 bob...

Steve Hutton

[Motown]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Mr. Dula just scares the heck outta me in that picture. Definatley a winner

[MO-Pard]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Ah, the paragraph....

This was a difficult specialty impression. Definitely unique from usual submissions, as you will see and hope the explanation isn't too lengthy. It was researched in-depth in planning for the Wide Awake Films co-production of 'Bad Blood.' After several 'takes', we felt this had the best feel and conveyed that 'on edge' or militant feel. The 'twitch' of the revolver only added to the feel. It was made by Robert Szabo.

Though "affectionately" called "Border Ruffians", so 'endeared' to those in Kansas and Northern/Eastern newspapers, for all intents and purposes, this is a militia impression. (Although the papers declared them no more than barbarians and whiskey-soaked.) Though they were called Missouri Border Ruffians, they also came from South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, and throughout the South to make a statement and not only decide the conflict, before it became a 'conflict', they also came for the free land and to perpetuate the Southern way of life. Technically ante-bellum, these men fought the war for 7 years before Ft. Sumpter........and then continued in the Missouri State Guard, the AoT and the AoM. Too many big names from the war to list here. For many of them, it was a 12 year war.

The shirts are reproduced in detail for and under license/authorization from the Steam Boat Arabia Museum. There were approximately 15 of these on board and they are documented being used by such militias. They were personally measured and examined with my partner Rick Gath in the back rooms of the museum.

And yes, the beard is real. But the eyes are borrowed.

Best Regards and thanks for your consideration.

[Spinster]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

So, do we have any background as to the significance of the heart shape on the shirt--present in #2, on the original image Dane posted, and in the Arabia collection?

I don't have a clue, unless it signified a girl's heart being stolen right away......;)

[sam.p]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

I vote for Image #3. I like the "far away" looks on their faces and the Masonic pins on their shirts.

Cordially,
Sam Patterson

[Trish Hasenmueller]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

They speculate at the Arabia Steamboat Museum that the heart was a symbol for whatever group was going to wear the shirt.

Trish Hasenmueller

[Mcguire]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

I'm voting for image #2. I don't want to be on the business end of that bowie when I meet up with Jay at Outpost.

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Ok...the paragraph:

Image No. 1 is of me and Coley Adair. It was made, as I believe many originals were, to be a lasting reminder and memento of friendship - friendship sharpened by shared experience and hardship. So often we see images of pairs of enlisted men. This image was inspired by those of officers from the Confederate Faces series.

I like this image because our expressions, I feel, capture the feeling of relaxed familiarity of friends, but also of the wear of service and long campaigns.

A whole chapter can be written regarding our impressions (Infantry and Cavalry) and the way we each present it, but I will leave it to the educated eyes of those viewing this image to “see” all the subtle reflections of two who have spent years researching to more accurately reflect what we portray.

[plankholder]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

I am gonna have to vote for number 2, by pure coincidence-I have been in a battle shirt kind of mood all month long! Maybe God is trying to tell me something? Great image Jay. -ELI GEERY

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

Jay stomped through the woods at Banks' Grand Retreat. He's the real deal. Number Two gets my vote.

[Dan Hadley]

Re: Vote For the August Cover

#2 got my vote. This border ruffian is liquored up a bit I believe, as evidenced by the barrel of that pistol he was unable to keep from wagging for the duration of the exposure. I believe this fellow would show no compunction at ridding an abolitionist of his scalp with that bowie.

Repro of the 'Arabia' shirt is fantastic too.

Dan Hadley