This is probably a dumb question, but I've often wondered during the war why were no pictures taken during battles? I know the technology at the time required subjects in the photographs to stand still and I also realize the danger of being close to exploding shells and flying mini-balls, just surprised that it wasn't at least attempted. Maybe from a hill overlooking a battle with troops marching towards each other. Even if the photo was blurry it still would have been extremely interesting to see. Or were there attempts that just didn't come out well and were discarded?
I also was doing some wiki research (I know not the best of sources) on Civil War photographers and noticed it said that there were southern photographers but many of their pictures were thrown away out of the grief of not wanting to relive the defeat basically. Depressing to think about many photographs that were there that we will never get to see. If I remember correctly it seems like Ken Burns mentioned that briefly in the last episode of his Civil War documentary. That many pictures were lost or thrown away from lack of interest because people were tired of war or had lost interest.
I've always found it sad that Mathew Brady died in poverty because of the money he spent on the photography he took or oversaw during the war. Because the pictures he gave us were priceless to future generations and documented a time and war unlike any before.
I also was doing some wiki research (I know not the best of sources) on Civil War photographers and noticed it said that there were southern photographers but many of their pictures were thrown away out of the grief of not wanting to relive the defeat basically. Depressing to think about many photographs that were there that we will never get to see. If I remember correctly it seems like Ken Burns mentioned that briefly in the last episode of his Civil War documentary. That many pictures were lost or thrown away from lack of interest because people were tired of war or had lost interest.
I've always found it sad that Mathew Brady died in poverty because of the money he spent on the photography he took or oversaw during the war. Because the pictures he gave us were priceless to future generations and documented a time and war unlike any before.