In today's reenactments nothing is more ubiquitous than the precise beat of a unit's fife and drum corps. It's always a crowd favorite, spreads an aura of patriotism across the field and, of course, helps reenactors stay in step on the march. But staying in step, while important, was only part of the music's role in the 18th century.

The more of these events I do the more I come to realize they all take on their own personalities regarding my images and what subjects I’m drawn to. For Brooklyn it was most definitely candid portraits and street scenes. I did capture compelling images of the battle and retreat, but in post-production I was drawn to the faces of this event. Please see my Battle of Brooklyn Gallery for the complete set of images.

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.

The Village interprets the years 1790 to 1840, and its living history program is built around the 1830s. This is a world on the cusp of the industrial revolution, a rural economy tilting toward industry — a world that arrived a full half-century after Lexington Green. The museum opened in 1946 and now covers more than two hundred acres, with roughly forty antique buildings relocated from towns across New England and upstate New York, three water-powered mills, and a working farm.

Nothing about that description is Revolutionary. The men who fought at Concord would have been old men here, if they were alive at all.

In the early morning light before the June Putnam Heroes event in Carmel, New York, two reenactors walked quietly through the dew-covered grass, discussing how they expected the day to unfold. In that quiet moment, the 250th anniversary felt less like commemoration and more like continuation. This is the essence of my Rev 250 project: capturing the moments that connect 1776 to 2026 through candid observational photography.

This past weekend at Fort Ticonderoga, I captured living history that brought the Northern Continental Army’s 1776 struggles—and echoes of the 1775 Quebec campaign—vividly to life. As part of the REAL TIME REVOLUTION® Signature Reenactment Event “Return of an Army” (July 3–5, 2026), reenactors portrayed the arrival of exhausted troops by bateaux, care for the sick amid smallpox, and the delivery of cannon to fortify defenses.

During the recent Gloucester reenactment, the sight of longboats pulling hard toward shore brought the tactics of 1775 vividly to life. Oars cutting through the water, spray flying, and the determined faces of the crews—it was a powerful reminder of how these small craft shaped coastal operations throughout the American Revolution.

In May 1781, General George Washington met with French commander Comte de Rochambeau at the nearby Joseph Webb House to finalize plans for the Yorktown campaign — the decisive maneuver that effectively ended the war.

In the cold dawn light on Lexington Battle Green, Jonas Parker — farmer, father, and one of the first Americans to fall — stands his ground. He had promised he would never run. He kept that promise.

Discover the story of Isaac Hastings, a 19-year-old Lexington farmer who stood with his father and brother on the Battle Green on April 19, 1775. Candid street photography from Patriots’ Day 2026 connects his citizen-soldier legacy to today’s reenactors for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

This post announces the launch of a personal street photography project focused on the REv250 celebrations and the amazing people that participate in presenting the living history of the nations founding.