Fort Monroe (5/18/2014 posted 8/20/2014)

I am posting this photograph today as my answer to the photographic challenge by Cee Neuner, one of the blogs I follow.  The challenge was for a black and white photograph of any type.  So back in the archives I found on I took in May of this year at Ft. Monroe in Hampton.  Ft. Monroe was continually active as an Army base since the civil war and it is my understanding that Abraham Lincoln even visited the place.  Part of it is a real fort with walls and a moat.  A few years ago it was closed, made a national monument and parts were turned over to the state.  Absolutely no better place to take pictures.  I have posted sifferent pictures of Ft. Monroe, just check out the "labels" section of this blog.

I love black and white photography.  In my far distant past I had the ambition to become a photographer.  I did an online course, got all the books from Ansell Adams and even bought a second hand copy of the Time Life photo course.  I studied the various photographers of the time and I experimented with all kinds of filters, including red filters to make skies and clouds even more dramatic.  At home my bedroom also served as a dark room.  I landed a few wedding shoots and I taught darkroom techniques when I was drafted in the Army.  I guess I was an instructor in those days already, which is probably why I drifted into the direction I am in right now.  But I’ve never forgotten my love for photography.

While I usually shy away from posting pictures of people, I can’t help myself posting this picture of my beautiful wife.  This picture was taken near one of the access points to the real fort, at a point where a foot tunnel exits the wall inside the fort.  It just felt right for this picture.  If you are in the area, it is a place well worth visiting; a place that drips with history.