Just Waiting

Shiloh - Quiet Now
Originally uploaded by webbimage

While spending some time back in my boyhood home in Northern Mississippi during the first week of November, I made time to visit Shiloh National Military Park. It had been more than 35 years since my last visit and I wanted to reacquaint myself with the battlefield.

The Fall weather was perfect and the color of the trees added beauty to what is now a serene place to visit. On April 6th and 7th of 1862 it was not so serene. More than 30,000 men were wounded or killed in the battles that took place here. The casualties of the first day alone (23,746) were greater than all the wars America had fought to that time.

This visit to Shiloh is an example of how we are sometimes surprised by beauty as the most incongruous of elements combine to make a striking photograph. In this case, the foliage caught my eye first as I neared the spot. As I got closer, the clean, strong lines of the cannon and the rough texture of the split rail fence provided a stark contrast to the soft beauty of the trees and the clear blue sky.

It was a scene just waiting for me that day.