Battle Monument, United States Military Academy (click to enlarge)
Here are the ends of the cannon barrels that encircle the Battle Monument at the United States Military Academy. The interesting thing is the different degree to which each of cannon have weathered. The cannon are arranged in a circle, so they all receive different levels of sunshine and weather.
Combined, the Union and the Confederacy had 298,781 killed, wounded, captured or missing in these 16 battles. That is pretty sobering when you consider that is about 1.5 times the strength of today’s Marine Corps. Imagine the entire Marine Corps lost in less than a four year period….
Battle Monument, United States Military Academy: N41 23 40.94 W73 57 24.61
Bells (click to enlarge)
These bells are sitting on a table in Cedar Grove, the home of Thomas Cole. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site (this link is much better than the official National Park Service website) is a must stop for those interested in the Hudson River School of landscape painting
I like the juxtaposition of color in this image. You have the blue background reflected by the big bell putting a ray of blue into the lower half of the image. There is also the brown handle moving the color brown of the lower half into the blue upper half.
You can also just make out the shadow of the big bell to the right of the bell. I thought this might have been my shadow at first, but looking closely you can see the curve of the bell in the shadow. I found it interesting that the shadow was pointed to the right since the primary light source is a window to the right. There must have been a secondary light source to the left to cast the shadow right.
Thomas Cole National Historic Site: N42 13 32.79 W73 51 41.40
Thomas Cole Desk (click to enlarge)
Here is a desk from the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (this link is much better better than the official National Park Service website). Cole’s home, known as Cedar Grove, was the center point of the Hudson River School of landscape painting. After viewing the gallery on the grounds, and reading about the movement, I have added the Hudson River School Art Trail to my photography bucket list.
Capturing images of desks within the National Park System is another of my photography bucket list items. In retirement, I would like to road trip around the country seeking out historic desks like the one above. One could tell the history of our country using desks on display in our park system.
This desk sits right next to a window off the right side of the image. It was an overcast day when we visited, so there was a nice, natural diffused light pouring into the studio.
Thomas Cole National Historic Site: N42 13 32.79 W73 51 41.40
