Brackens Pond - Colonial Parkway

As you drive down the road you never really know what events have happened there unless you have really done your homework on the area. Well, if you live in a historic area where there are numerous haunts, you tend to find them all out in a relative short amount of time.

The Colonial Parkway is a scenic drive that goes from Yorktown, Va through Williamsburg and all the way up to Jamestown Island. Its a beautiful drive and full of history itself. There are several pull offs that you can stop and take a walk to the waterfront of the James River and there are even areas that are no longer open to the public unless you park 5 miles down and walk into. (I will be doing that this summer when it's warm so we'll see what I get then). There are also several little swamps and ponds along the way. I took this picture at a pond that boasts a little bit of haunted history.




This is Brackens Pond and the photo was shot looking through some branches on the bank. (I think it kinda adds to the spookyness of the shot) It was then edited with a Daguerreotype finish to give it that deep black and white tone.

The Story:
A long time ago in the Colonial days when people used horse and carriage to get from place to place, this area used to be a well traveled path. Some say it was a dirt road while others say it was cobblestone that got replaced when they made the Parkway. Well, a group of people were traveling down this road one night and as they neared the pond, something spooked the horse. The horse bolted to the side of the road, lost its footing and fell into Brackens Pond taking the whole carriage along with the people into the pond. It was said that the people passing by couldn't get to them fast enough and when they finally was able to get to them, no one, not even the horse survived.

Now, if you drive by this pond, there is a pull off on the other side of the road where you can park your car and get out. If you come out at night and sit and listen, you can still hear the sound of the horses hooves on the road today. When they get to the side of the pond, they vanish...


*********************************DISCLAIMER****************************************
I am stating the obvious here... I am only retelling ONE of the NUMEROUS stories about this particular ghost story. This is in no way to be taken in any other way except for entertainment.

Leia Mais...

Bruton Parish Church

It's no big secret that I love ghost stories, I mean after all my mom used to work as a tour guide on these nightly ghost tours by lantern through Colonial Williamsburg. Having lived in Yorktown for 21 years and working in Williamsburg myself you see a lot of history. History just in the land itself, such as the Battlefields of Yorktown and then all the history that is Williamsburg, all the original houses and even the local ghosts.

Well, I love working on my photography in these areas because of all the history and you never quite know what you may end up with by taking a picture here. This photo was taken at the Bruton Parish Church on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.




The story:
A long time back when Williamsburg was booming, there was this little boy around 8 who had made best friends with a slave boy of the same age. These two were practically inseparable. They would sneak out and play around the graveyard of this church and steal potatoes from workers as they would pass by to go into the taverns. The father did not approve of the boys friendship and tried to keep the two apart. This did not stop the boys from sneaking out and playing together at night. Well, the young boy became very ill and eventually passed away. The father laid his son to rest in a family tomb in the cemetery at Bruton Parish. Heartbroken and now without his only friend, the young slave boy ended up passing away a year later. The father, knowing how much this little boy meant to his son, buried the slave boy on top of his own son in the same plot.
Now, these two little boys are together in death as they had been in life. They have been seen by passerbys of the cemetery at night. They say that if you look real carefully you can see the two boys, one white and one black holding hands and walking around the cemetery.



*********************************DISCLAIMER****************************************

I am stating the obvious here... I am only retelling ONE of the NUMEROUS stories about this particular ghost story. This is in no way to be taken in any other way except for entertainment.

Leia Mais...

Leading Lines

I had a project in my Photography class that dealt with leading lines. This is a composition in which the photographer draws the eye to a subject by using lines such as a railroad track. The lines will begin very wide and draw you down as they get closer together. This got me to thinking... What would happen if you only used a single line to draw the same type of composition but getting a different perspective.

You can see my leading line photo:




This photo draws your eye down the road as you see the colors of the leaves as they are turning for the fall season. A very traditional leading line shot, to be quite honest. I could have added more depth even if I had a bicyclist on the road but this was the best I could do while standing in the middle of the road hoping that a car didn't run me over.

I wanted to shoot something that still used lines to draw attention but didn't have the traditional look of leading lines. So I went to Yorktown Beach and walked over to this pier. I shot some regular leading line shots and then I looked off to the side. That is where I got this idea and this photo is what came of that...




This is looking down the side of the pier with the beach in the foreground, the pier off to the side. I also chose to leave in the jut of the rocks on the right so that it added to the depth. The clouds add a bit of a surreal look as they rolled out. It was right after a storm so they added a bit of texture to the photo as they were not just solid white.

This is what happens when you push the limits of the traditional and make your own path. Sometimes it works and sometimes you crash and burn, but if you don't try, you'll never know. You have to fall a few times to learn. I have taken so many pictures that I just look at and then delete because they honestly look like crap. I have tried things that didn't work out but at least I know that now and I will try something different later on.

Leia Mais...

French Cross

This photo is very historical and definitely for those that love the past and are big history or war buffs.




I took this photo along Surrender Field which is a scenic loop drive in Yorktown, Va. It is very close to the Colonial Parkway as well as the Battlefields. This particular cross is a marker for about 50 unidentified French soldiers during the Siege of Yorktown. This Siege marked the allegiance of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau against the British Army led by General Lord Cornwallis. This also was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War.

I shot this photo in the late fall of 2008. I loved the blanket of leaves and the rust colored mums that surrounded the marker in front of the cross. I then edited it in the Cross Process technique to highlight the fall colors and give it a little more of a surreal feel. I love how the neutral colors just come to life. In this photograph I have raised the intensity of the process slightly to accentuate the colors that would normally blend into the background.


You can see the markers for this area at this website: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=11144

Leia Mais...