Nobody Told the Twenty-First Century
The Lunch Line - The Confiscation of Johnson Hall May 2026
The Commander's Intent for this project says the goal is to reveal the human continuity between past and present. Where my eye goes is the seam between the two — the place where the eighteenth century and the twenty-first are pressed together hard enough that you can see the join.
Most photographers at these events are shooting the reenactment. I've gotten more interested in the collision.
They can't be hunted. You can stand where one is likely — near the parking, near the food, anywhere the machinery of the event shows through — but the frame arrives or it doesn't, and usually in less time than it takes to raise the camera.
The Intrusion of the Modern
Phones, sunglasses, water bottles, hearing protection. Everyone in the frame knows they're there.
Statements, Patriotic and Political
2026 is a year when a great many people have something to say. The anniversary isn't a settled thing being observed. It's a live thing being claimed.
The Ones Nobody Planned
Not an object intruding on a scene — a whole situation nobody staged and nobody would have thought to.
Why I Keep Looking
The temptation is to photograph a reenactment as though the twenty-first century weren't there. Crop it out, wait it out, angle around it. But the crop is a small lie. The past isn't sealed off from us. It's happening in a field with a food truck parked at the edge of it.
I hope you've enjoyed these as much as I have.
Somers, New York
If you liked this post, check out:
Where the Story Begins — Redcoats and Rebels at Old Sturbridge Village
The Living Revolution: Community and Continuity in Reenactment Photography
Sources
All Photographs by Tom Musante 2026
