"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can
alter the course of history." Mohandas Gandhi
A recent trip to Texas to celebrate my mother's 90th birthday found me spending time contemplating my return course towards home and I decided to follow hi-way 71 from southern Arkansas northward. The timing of this trip put me smack in the middle of some of Texas's worst summer weather which, oddly enough, also followed me home. With temps in the high 90's it took only about 10 steps from the car to be drenched in sweat and wishing to be back in the air conditioned cab of the Prius.
One of the enjoyable parts of the journey home was the opportunity to visit a number of civil war battlefields and monuments and one national cemetery. It was in Fayetteville, Arkansas where I spent the most time scouting out lesser known civil war battlefields and the Prairie Grove National Battlefield, just west of Fayetteville, also contained a number of historical buildings from the early town. My plan was to arrive back at the site late in the day to get some improved lighting conditions and also a respite from the heat (HA!).
The blog image is of the blacksmith shop of the early town which, due to its darkened interior, required about an 8 shot HDR to capture all the detail. I also realized that the window was going to be a real problem so I did a separate exposure (on tripod, like all the rest) just to record the "life" beyond the window frame. The 8 images were processed in Nik HDR Efex Pro and then the appropriate window capture was layered onto the final HDR image to avoid having blown out highlights blasting from the window.
At the outset I was most interested in the light that flooded down the chimney to illuminate the working area of the hearth and I was pleased to see that beautiful light still evident in the final image.
While I'm not a "student" of civil war history I found it to be a very humbling experience to stand in places where so many gave their all for their beliefs...no matter what side they stood with. It is easy to forget the course of our country and its people yet these preserved sites help to remind us all of what great honor went before us.
Enjoy and thank you for stopping.
My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649
For more views of my work visit;
"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com
Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org
BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V
