Chickamauga at sunrise - Part 1

Over Christmas break I had the chance to drive down to Chickamauga Battlefield with my best friend to do some early morning photography. As previously mentioned in my last post, I've been there a couple times below - even once to film - but have always wanted to return again to try and get those beautiful light-filled photos the park is always posting on Instagram and Facebook!

For those of you who don't know, Chickamauga Battlefield is the largest portion of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park - our nation's oldest such park, 'twas founded in 1890. Here are some of my photos!

We reached the park right at sunrise - this was the view that greeted us! I should say that one reason I really like the photo at the top of this article is because artistically it is symmetrically balanced. You have the cannon right there in the middle - and to add interest, you have the Florida monument there in the background. I really like how this one turned out. I also like the lower angle that I got for that shot!! See more pics of the Florida monument below. I should forewarn everyone, I took a photography class this past semester in college, so I may end up going down some artistic-like photography bunny trails!!

 

I suppose this is more just your typical monument shot, but I do like how I was able to position the monument slightly to the right of the shot - rule of thirds idea. I guess you also have rule of thirds horizontally - ground, trees, sky. Lastly, I like the softer sky colors, with the sun coming up more on the right.

I like this shot because a) it's interesting because it is from behind the monument, and b) being up closer, the monument seems to almost demand your attention. Definitely has a commanding presence. 

Same monument from behind, but from farther behind and on the corner. Seems to have some more reflective tones, though the monument still symbolizes strength and resilience to me. Without the monument, it would just be another bland rule-of-thirds shot, but I like the monument in here. Definitely one of my favorites from the trip.

Now for a few more shots of the monument. Similar angle, but more from the left, I feel it has even more of a commanding presence. 

An interesting angle.

The actual soldier almost seems like a shadow against the sky!

Back to the cannon. It is absolutely amazing to see all the countless plaques describing in detail what went on where, for both sides. It's very easy just to pass time reading and reflecting. For this shot, I like the plaque as the subject in the foreground, the cannon filling it out on  the left, and you even have that taller monument in the back on the right. Symmetrically you have a very solid, balanced foreground. When considering the entire picture, you have a bit of a right-facing crocodile mouth, which I think is pretty funny!

Finally, I really like this row of cannons. As seen in the shot above, I like how I'm down lower, and the ends of the barrels of the actual cannons start out high and descend - nice that they're a brighter, different color than the wheels. Almost as if the light is just barely reflecting off of them...

Above the cannons look like anything but in a straight, nice line! But artistically it's neat to have the one larger cannon on the right foreground, and the other cannons balancing it out in the left background. That's very interesting to me.

...and here they all look in a line again! :)

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Well, I have plenty more photos from this trip, but they will have to be shared in a future post! I hope you have enjoyed this. I think this blog may turn into a bit of a public venue where I can just figure out my thoughts photographically on why I liked this or that or the other shot! Guess that photography class actually did something to me ;)

Anyways, I would love to hear from you - what was one of your favorite shots that I took and shared in this post? If you were the one with the camera, how would you compose it differently? Because I'd love to know and I'm sure I'll be back there again soon!