John Boal Photography

If you plan to attend Manassas National Battlefield Park, there is a Battlefield App. Really, there is. Look it up. The Sesquicentennial “celebrations” came and went in Manassas. I figured I'd just make a picture page of what I did during the week. Local representatives were involved. Sheryl Bass, Manassas City Councilwoman is preparing for a rehearsal of the 1911 Peace Jubilee reenactment at the Old Manassas Courthouse. During the reenactment of the 1911 Peace Jubilee (meant to celebrate 50 years of peace between the north and south), a "film" crew eagerly documented the proceedings. I got a big kick out of watching them work. I did not attend the First Battle of Manassas reenactments, the parade or the opening ceremonies. I was the evening guy this week, so I covered a rehearsal of the reenactment of the 1911 Jubilee, the reenactment of said Jubilee, the encampments (briefly), cleanup of said encampments, a blue-gray ball, and a Pringle House hospital tour. Living h...

The end of the school year means photographing area athletes and scholar athletes of the year. Because of scheduling conflicts I only photographed 4 kids this year. The boys and girls scholar athletes of the year, the boys soccer player of the year and the girl's track athlete of the year. It's always a challenge to come up with something new. How many times can you photograph the soccer player of the year at the high school stadium in the bright light of 3pm (the time can't be changed too much b/c we shoot about 14 kids in 10 days, so the schedule just gets crammed between the end of the year and the dates the pages run). I always try to approach a shoot with creating context. Metaphorical or literal. Often the easiest thing is to place a soccer player in front of the goal with the ball. A lacrosse player has a stick...etc. But I'm always trying to figure out a way to add context in a different way. What I've tried to do over the past few years is manipulate the li...