The idea was to just get out of town for a day. No big deal. Phil B. from the photo club had posted some pictures from last year’s Battle of Port Gamble on the club site and I thought it would be fun to take the camera down and play with black and white conversion. Here’s a slideshow of the Flickr photoset.

It turned out to be much more than a photo op. The people involved, members of the Washington Civil War Association, take their history seriously. The costumes were painstakingly recreated to be as authentic as possible. When we asked questions of several participants, we were treated to well informed short bits history lesson.

You may remember history as being dry and boring, consisting of dates and names that required rote memorization. When history is someone’s passion and he or she shares that passion, history transforms from a distant and dry subject to something personal. So, the day turned out to be much more than expected. Not only was it a great opportunity to take photos, it was both fun and informative. I’ve already put it on my calendar for next year.