Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Battle of Bull Run

I organized twenty teams of photographers whose pictures I plan to assemble in a collection documenting the war. I wish to document not the stratagems of men and troop movements, for these things are recorded by others. Rather, it is my aim to bring to the people "the results of war: the ravages on man and landscape, the toll taken on human faces, human bodies, and in human hearts."

Today's battle nearly ended my operation before it had a chance to begin. I was nearly captured by the Confederate Army while photographing the battle of Bull Run. Luckily, I was able to remove myself from the situation before I was made one of the first prisoners of war.

Imagine the violence required to render a place quiet and lifeless.

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/images/bullrun.jpg
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/brady.html
http://www.mathewbrady.com/about.htm

2 comments:

  1. It would have been tragic to see such a fine photographer as yourself in the hands of the Confederacy. I hope your collection of photographs share the horror that this war is causing on all of America. The war itself is a disastrous cycle and needs to cease. I would like to congratulate you on capturing such moving pictures.

    -Ulysses S. Grant

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  2. I commend your bravery while also cursing our inability to capture a single photographer. However, I believe that your aim is worthwhile to bring light onto this human side of war. Though if I have any say, your portrait subjects will soon be diverted to standstill objects and not the lives of those lost.

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