Vacation Pictures
My wife and I visited Fort Casey on Whidbey Island during our recent vacation. We were attracted to the “modern art” features inside some of the gunnery buildings. These buildings stood idle for decades until the National Park Service decided to restore and repurpose the area as a national park. What you see on the walls is a result of black paint covering up old graffiti, natural water staining, and color deterioration. We found this much more compelling than the obvious shots of defunct cannons and bunkers.
Post Processing
Each image was shot in manual mode, RAW, using my Nikon D300, 18-50mm lens with these settings: Shutter speed ranged from 1/40 to 1/800 and f/9 to f/11.
Very little post processing was done with all three images and included: Nik Software Dfine 2.0, Color Efex Pro 4 (Tonal Contrast, Brilliance/Warmth, Detail Extractor, and Image Border).
HDR Image – Inside walls Fort Casey
History Lesson - The Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound
Admiralty Inlet (Near Seattle, Washington) was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound at the turn of the century that three forts were built at the entrance with huge guns creating a “Triangle of Fire” that could theoretically thwart any invasion attempt by sea. Fort Worden, on the Quimper Peninsula at the extreme northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, sits on a bluff near Port Townsend, anchoring the northwest side of the triangle. Fort Casey, on Whidbey Island, sits on Admiralty Head almost directly across Admiralty Inlet from Fort Worden. Fort Flagler anchors the southwest side from a bluff on Marrowstone Island.
The government created Puget Sound Naval Station in Bremerton in 1891. Since there was an important facility of military value to protect the Army engineers developed a plan for defense against a waterborne attack. On June 6, 1896, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to fortify these three points and build large gun emplacements to protect Puget Sound. The cost of construction and armament of the Puget Sound Defenses was estimated at $7 million, a boon to the severely depressed economies of Jefferson County and Port Townsend, still suffering from the effects of the Panic of 1893.
Building the defense fortifications proceeded slowly until the Spanish-American War (1898). There was no actual construction work until after the battleship USS Maine blew up and sank in Havana Harbor on February 16, 1898, with the loss of 252 officers and men. Then the work was accelerated to protect the Puget Sound Naval Station from the Spanish Fleet.
What’s To Be Learned?
Always be aware of possible shots. Think outside-the-box especially when you think nothing around you is worth shooting.
As always, thank you for visiting and comments are always welcomed.
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Just in case you missed it… I recently won 2nd place in the Landscape category for my image: “Frosted Fence Post.” You can read more by viewing the right-hand side bar of my blog page.
