In Wednesday's email UPDATE I am going to talk a little bit about this book, WARGAMES by Jenny Thompson. I personally cannot say enough about this book. If you read and enjoyed CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC, you will find this to be a very good read as well as it looks at the world of the Modern War Reenactor.
My premise in the email UPDATE is that reenactors and 1:6th modelers share something in common, the desire to strive for Authenticity, not just in their impression or their figures, but Authenticity in their photos. Think about it. We will do just about anything to make our little guys look real and reenactors try incredibly hard to have period-authentic photographs of their events. Here are five examples of reenactment photos from an event that I was part of at Ft. Carson Colorado. The first four pictures are in black and white and have had some tinting and noise added. See what you think.
The last reenactment photo is in color, but it has been done in the style of 1940's color photography and is intended to look washed out. This is me, sitting in a tree line watching two GIs in a draw below the ridge that I am on. Let's here it for camouflage, they never saw me and I had two more kills.
I know I work just as hard trying to make my little guys seem real. I remove backgrounds, I add backgrounds. I mess with the color, the hue, the brightness and contrast, I use filters and anything else I can think of to try to achieve realism. It doesn't seem all that different to me. We want to fool people into believing they are looking at the real thing. A little harder with vinyl men, but we still try.
So tell me what you think. Read the email UPDATE and then post a comment. I would like to hear if you think I am off my nut, or if you agree. What are some of the techniques you typically use? Inquiring minds want to know. That's all for this time, until next time, have a good one!
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