November 13, 2007: WWI Soldier Formation Photos

I know they're a few days late for Veteran's Day, but these just arrived in my email today. The accompanying information says they were taken by Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas, during and just after WWI. This shield image was one of the largest of their series, made up of about 30,000 sailors and soldiers from Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan.



Some other patriotic formations they created:


The white accents in the eagle are uniformed nurses.



And finally, a victory shot, taken in January 1919.

Those are incredible shots! I thought there had to be something off about them, so I Googled the names. They seem to be totally legit.

The Hammer Gallery in Chicago apparently did an exhibition and has many more pictures on their site.

Working with an 11 X 14 inch view camera Mole and Thomas spent a week or so preparing for these immense works. First sketching onto the ground glass and then making a map on the ground that helped determine the number of soldiers needed to create the photograph.

That was back when Photoshop only had two colors.

I saw these just the other day and considered them for an IoTD... then promptly forgot about it :)

The amazing thing to notice is the perspective - see how large the soldiers are at the front and how very small and far away the ones at the back are - these things are HUGE. In the Statue of Liberty there are twice the number of men in the flame of the torch than the whole remaining design (from Snopes, but only a partial quote so I didn't link).

"What did you do in the war grandpa?"

"Just stood around."

Now could they have used badgers to get the same effect, or wait maybe they could use this style to make a badger version. :headshake as you can see the previous cellar post has got a little stuck on me

These are AMAZING, Clodfobble.. thanks so much for posting!

All comedy aside, can you imagine being a part of something this huge? What a fantastic way to commemorate the patriotism of the time. I just love these, especially the eagle.

:f207:

Nikolai;406728 wrote:

Now could they have used badgers to get the same effect, or wait maybe they could use this style to make a badger version. :headshake as you can see the previous cellar post has got a little stuck on me

SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH It's a snaaaaaaake......:banghead:

awwww, it would be so great if these had happend on accident...

"Soldiers greeting there loved ones accidently create the statue of liberty"

ViennaWaits;406744 wrote:

can you imagine being a part of something this huge?

I was. For four years.

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It was called marching band. :D


Very cool Clod, thanks!!

maybe Spencer Tunick will see these and be inspired to make... figures.

The foreshortening alone is a feat of engineering...amazing photos...

Wow.

In the shield picture, it even looks like they've taken perspective into account, a la those amazing sidewalk drawings that have been making their way around the net: http://bouncechrissy.livejournal.com/155638.html

Oops. :blush:

You shoulda put it in the crack... ;)

Happy Monkey;408175 wrote:

You shoulda put it in the crack... ;)

[SIZE="1"]damn.. good point[/SIZE]

Happy Monkey;408175 wrote:

You shoulda put it in the crack... ;)

That's what she said...:knockdup:

I guess this is what happens when you have 10,000 people with a lot of time on their hands.