Saturday June 12, Michael Crawley taught us about making historical pictures. His love of this comes from his love of history in general. He also participates in several reenactment groups that dress in character and recreate battles of the Civil War or whatever time period they are reenacting.

Michael shared his knowledge of do’s and don’t’s for creating an authentic looking portrait. The success is in all the little details matching the time period you are trying to recreate. For example, if you were doing a 50’s Dr. Pepper advertisement picture, you would not use a can of Dr. Pepper. It helps to research the period or picture style you are trying to recreate. Hair style, make-up style and clothing style are also important. The wrong earrings can ruin a picture.

Michael also taught us about how they use guns, gun safety and some pointers if you are around people with guns. In his Civil War reenactments, guns and cannons are just a few of the things used to make a life like battlefield.

Michael had 3 models come and we took pictures of them. Two of them were in Civil War dress and one was a W.W.II Nurse. He showed us how he tells them what he is doing and how to pose with their weapon or accents (First-Aid Kit). He showed us back drops that he uses and a roll up floor that looks like wood.

After we took the pictures, Michael showed us how to edit them using Nik filters. This was very interesting to me as I had never used Nik. I especially liked learning about the Wet Plate Effect that makes the photos look like they were developed this way on glass. I love old pictures so this class was a fantastic learning experience. I highly recommend you go back in time and join Michael when if he teaches this class again - you will learn lots.