Talk:Gettysburg Battlefield

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The following users are actively contributing to this topic and may be able to help with questions about verification and sources: Hlj (Hal Jespersen) (talk • watchlist • email)

[edit] My photo

I won't fight too hard for this- I'm no Civil War authority and am new to this section of Wikipedia -but here's why I like the photo that I'm replacing: It's a fairly dingy shot of a large but otherwise nondescript field. When I went to the other parts of the battlefield park, I was a bit turned off by the "monument every 50 feet" feel of it. I looked around and wondered what the place really looked like, and what glorious place it was that all those men fought and died to attack and defend.

Seeing the undeveloped section of the park made me realize- it's just a dingy field. There was nothing glorious or glamorous about this place- no monuments, no nothing. Just a really big field where a lot of people killed a lot of people. This was the emotional impact of visiting Gettysburg for me, and I think that the picture captures something of that feeling.

I do agree that the caption is lame- I really couldn't think of anything better. If nothing else, this is probably an example of the "ongoing program to restore portions of the battlefield to their historical non-wooded conditions" that the article mentions. --Staecker 02:53, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

The appropriate term would be "preserved", not "undeveloped". I think as a minimum, a bland landscape shot like this should tell what you are looking at and from where. I presume this was from Confederate Ave and it shows the Round Tops and the Slyder Farm, right? If you had used a decent caption, I would have assumed you were not in the category of "vacationers at Gettysburg who want to display their snapshots", people who do lurk here from time to time. Hal Jespersen 15:17, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, I'm certainly not a professional photographer... Anyways I was standing on top of the giant PA monument, shooting in the only direction where I didn't see hundreds of statues. Maybe you can improve my caption- I don't know the names of things well enough to describe exactly where that is. Staecker 16:05, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

lurk, lurk. replace the caption, but the lighting is moody and appropriate. [one fish's opinion] Carptrash 16:07, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, Mr Fish, all opinions are welcome, but mine is that the battle was fought on three sunny, hot days in July, which had significant effects on the soldiers' performance, so something brighter would be more appropriate if the theme of preserving the battlefield is on the table. An analogy is whether you'd prefer to see a photo of Valley Forge in the summer or winter. Hal Jespersen 16:40, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Good point. hmmm, though all my" tourist" shots of the sculpture [the only place that I know of that actually lists [ well . . . "listed"] the sculptors involved, which is what art historian are interested in - but I digress] were taken on a hot July day - but I guess the issue is whether a documentry type photo of the field on a hot summer's day is better than one that captures the feeling of a field full of dead folks. i defer to yout judgement in this case. Carptrash 17:37, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

PS all the Valley Forge photos on wikipedia WERE taken in the summer. Guess we can kiss them bye-bye. Carptrash 17:40, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

[Hee-hee]. I had my fingers crossed when I wrote that because I've never looked at the Valley Forge page. (One war's enough for me!) Hal Jespersen 18:47, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes, one is enough, in fact, more than enough. Life is good. Carptrash 04:07, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Last few lines

As they are now, they say "The National Park Service has an ongoing program to restore portions of the battlefield to their historical non-wooded conditions, but this is a politically delicate process for reasons that are easy to imagine. There are also considerably more roads and facilities for the benefit of tourists visiting the battlefield park."

I don't like the non-specificness of "reasons that are easy to imagine." I can imagine reasons, but I don't know if they're the actual reasons. If someone knows more about this, can it be changed to say "but this is a politically delicate process for reasons SUCH AS..."?

Well, you're probably right, but I will bet that you really can imagine the reasons, which I omitted to avoid offending anyone. I'll reword. Hal Jespersen 02:44, 1 March 2006 (UTC)