I am lucky that the stars were aligned and I was able to witness the following event. I just happened to be in Maryland visiting my family when I checked my computer and read a blog post by Mannie Gentile, (See his blog
here) He wrote "Come to Antietam tonight and see a night time cannon shoot!" Three hours later, I found myself on the field of Antietam next to the New York monument and two replica 12 pound Napoleon Cannons. They were set up over looking the cornfield area of the battlefield. It was a low-key affair attended by about 50 others. The weather was unsettled, with a thunderstorm passing to our north. We had a couple of sprinkles from it, so I ducked into the nearest shelter. There I found myself setting in a pew of the Dunker Church with a bunch of guys dressed in Confederate “butternut.” Quite surreal.
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Dunker Church Antietam. Shot with Holga Wide angle Pinhole on Fuji 100 B&W. It was about a 15 second exposure. The film got fogged when I changed rolls. |
For my photographs I used my Holga 120N and Fuji 100 ASA B&W film. My goal was to capture the muzzle flash and smoke of the cannon discharge. Luckily the sun was setting and it was a cloudy twilight. I took a chance and set my Holga to bulb and set up my tripod. My vantage point was about 25 feet away from the left gun. I just guessed at the exposures. When I saw the crew set the friction fuse, step away, and yelled “Ready!” I opened the shudder.
Mannie Gentile blog-
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