Please decide: Are you in the event or photographing it?

Claude Bauer

First Sergeant
Forum Host
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Pet peeve--if you're taking pictures while participating in an event, please do it discretely. Shouldn't be doing it at all--you should either be participating in the event or photographing it, not both. I thought this was a great picture of the recent battle at Cedar Creek, then I saw the ubiquitous cell phone right in the thick of things.

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Also, I'll never forget the photo below published by a British paper for an article on the 150th Gettysburg reenactment. That was a week-long event with 10,000 reenactors and numerous battle scenarios and this was their takeaway:

gettysburg-cell-phones-001.jpg


Photographers and news reporters absolutely love to take pictures of reenactors holding digital cameras and cell phones. You could put on the most authentic reenactment ever staged, meticulously planned and executed, and one guy with a cell phone can ruin it.

Please--assign someone from your group, a friend or family member, to take pictures with the spectators. If you absolutely must have someone taking pictures in the field, do it discretely.
 
Drives me nuts! It seems people can't survive a few hours without one of those dam things in their hand. I turn mine off Friday afternoon and leave it in the car. Guys sitting around camp on the phone drives me nuts too. If there's something going on at home I need to check on I'll walk back to the car and take care of it. I wish everyone else showed the same courtesy.
 
Pet peeve--if you're taking pictures while participating in an event, please do it discretely. Shouldn't be doing it at all--you should either be participating in the event or photographing it, not both. I thought this was a great picture of the recent battle at Cedar Creek, then I saw the ubiquitous cell phone right in the thick of things.

View attachment 419057

Also, I'll never forget the photo below published by a British paper for an article on the 150th Gettysburg reenactment. That was a week-long event with 10,000 reenactors and numerous battle scenarios and this was their takeaway:

View attachment 419058

Photographers and news reporters absolutely love to take pictures of reenactors holding digital cameras and cell phones. You could put on the most authentic reenactment ever staged, meticulously planned and executed, and one guy with a cell phone can ruin it.

Please--assign someone from your group, a friend or family member, to take pictures with the spectators. If you absolutely must have someone taking pictures in the field, do it discretely.
I also feel sorry for the photographer Rodney Clark who took that great picture at Cedar Creek above. He probably felt it was a realistic depiction of the actual event, which is what reenactments should be. He even tweaked the color to make it appear old timey, but I guess he didn't see Mr. Cellphone there, right in the middle of things.
cellphone.jpg
 
Agree Totally. When I did conventional reenacting back in the 90,s ( that long ago?) one fellow would usually take a hit, then take pics from the prone position. He did though have a havelock or something similar over his head and camera so it wasn’t too bad, didn’t detract from the event. This was before cell phones so I can imagine now it’s everywhere.
 
When I went to my Air Force ROTC summer basic training camp, I took my brother’s 16mm “spy” camera. I could carry it discretely in my pocket. We had a formation on the drill field on Saturdays. I tried to snap some photos while at attention in formation.
I guess the photos didnt turn out because I dont have any photos of that. I do have photos taken during our 3-day survival and our 5-hour refueling mission with an FB-111.

9527DDE1-67C3-4773-AAA5-34497DEB1545.jpeg
 
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I also feel sorry for the photographer Rodney Clark who took that great picture at Cedar Creek above. He probably felt it was a realistic depiction of the actual event, which is what reenactments should be. He even tweaked the color to make it appear old timey, but I guess he didn't see Mr. Cellphone there, right in the middle of things.
View attachment 419185
plus Bozo has no weapon, what's his job anyway? Guess he dropped his Pail and Hand Shovel to take the pic, taking a break from scooping up the Horses droppings.
 
I´ve never taken pictures. I leave my phone buried under some stuff in the tent with the sound turned off.
 
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