Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Old is new again - Eli Lo

 


In this project, I attempted to turn this cannon in downtown Concord into a Civil War-style wet plate. Although the cannon was dated to be used during WW1, I saw that it was fitting for this assignment. I wanted a Civil War-era man posing in front of the cannon to give the sense that he had shot this cannon before it was placed there as a memorial. 

For this, I photographed the cannon and took a photo from the Library of Congress of a man standing next to a larger cannon.

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1 comment:

  1. EmilySeptember 9, 2026 at 4:22 PM

    The work I am critiquing was composed by Eli Lo. The subject of this composition is a historical-looking man leaning against a large cannon as they stand beneath a columned gazebo. A building and the nature of the location act as the background. The man has a vintage appearance. He is arrayed in a classic button-down vest, a brimmed hat, and a long beard. He strikes a pose with his hand on his hip, with a stoic look on his face; he looks right at us. Given how long it would take to take a wet-plate photo, the lack of emotion in his expression makes perfect sense. The image has a sepia tone, grainy texture, and an imperfection in the corner that conveys that the photo is from an earlier time. Seeing the composition for the first time, I almost got the impression that the man was the past owner/gifter of the cannon (researching the history of the weapon, I know this is not true). I believe I got this idea from seeing how casual the man appears as he rests against the firearm. I was pleased to find from Eli’s description that I was right, as he wanted to convey that the man shot the cannon before it was placed in its site as a memorial. Looking back at the original photo of the memorial, I noticed that it was taken after it had rained, making the pavement beneath the gazebo lighter than the rest of the ground. I thought this was interesting since it seemed to create a gradient around the cannon in an appealing way. The puddles on the ground also allowed the artist to work with reflections within the piece. If I were to add anything else to the work, it would be more distressed elements to the edges of the photo to add to the wet-plate appearance. I also think some additional blurring of the man could bring some more realism to the piece, since he probably would be moving around a bit while the photo was being taken. I could see more historical elements incorporated as well, to give the composition more relevance. Overall, I think that the wet-plate look was achieved in an excellently crafted way; I could imagine people believing that the composited image is a real photograph. There is an obvious thoughtfulness that the creator put into this piece, reflected by the subtle details in the man's demeanor and reflection in the puddles on the ground.

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