Growing up my dad was a freelance photographer. It was a hobby that he enjoyed doing when he wasn't being an autoworker through the week. He used to do weddings, family photos, senior pictures, and one or two of his pictures even made it to magazine covers.

As a compliment to his hobby of taking pictures, we also had a darkroom where he could develop and print the pictures. Since he is colorblind it was a strictly black and white dark room. I think that is part of the reason I am so drawn to black and white photos as an adult. My dad is still quite the photographer, but he isn't quite as mobile as he used to be. Plus with the advent of digital photography his darkroom is long gone.

Many years ago, my good friend(the one who helps with my truck) used to be involved in Civil War reenactments. On one occasion @mrsbozz and I decided to drive down to Jackson, MI to watch him participate in one of them. Never having been to one before, I didn't quite know what to expect.

Needless to say, it was impressive. They basically took over the whole park and everywhere you looked there were canvas tents and people walking around in period garb. I think I have shared some of these photos before, but honestly I don't remember which ones.

Plus if I did, it was a long time ago when I was just staring on Steemit and chances are that brilliant post got lost in the shuffle somewhere of Plankton hell. So today I am going to share those photos with you. I used black and white as much as possible because I thought it would be most appropriate for the material. That's why I am entering them into the #monochromemonday challenge hosted by @old-guy-photos.

I can't recall which battle they were recreating, but they basically had it set up with a fortified line as you can see here and another line advancing towards them with the cannons backing them up. Because it is a reenactment you will see modern things and people mixed in with the actors and props. Too bad civilians back in the day couldn't have gotten a warning similar to the sign above.

I always try to be careful when I am taking pictures of people. I felt in this case they probably had resigned themselves to the fact that people were going to be taking pictures and it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

I don't think I would have gotten this photo if @mrsbozz hadn't been paying better attention than me. She gave me a quick nudge and I immediately knew what she was trying to tell me. I think this is probably one of my most favorite pictures I have ever taken.

Pretty easy to tell this is a reenactment given the vehicles in the background. On top of that, I don't think the soliders back then would have been looking so fresh and clean.

Here is another view of the fortifications before the battle started.

My best photo of the cannons is the one I used at the beginning, but this is one from the beginning of the battle.

And one from the middle of the battle.

Finally, the surrender...

Thanks for coming along on this journey back in time with me!

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