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Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska
2015; Schneider 2011). Moreover, performance itself becomes an archive of his¬
torical gestures and practices (Schneider 2011). Ihe same performance can be,
however, subseguently captured, by either a bystander or a reenactor engaged in the
performance of history, using photography to visualize the remote past.
The particular activity analysed in this article is usually referred to as “reenact¬
ing photography”. It has many variants and no established codex or rules, as these
are still in the making, since the activity is a quite new phenomenon that appeared
only a few years ago as a further development of historical reenactment. Usually
however, it is realised in two main ways or in their certain combination. The first
way focuses on taking photos of reenacted events or reenactors, using digital cam¬
eras, and editing them to make them look as if they were from a particular histori¬
cal period. The second way is a reenactment practice, re-creating the work of war
photographers. In such a case, contemporary photographers use cameras and wear
uniforms from the historical period to be able to make pictures on the reenacted
battlefield and, subsequently, if possible, develop pictures in period-like condi¬
tions—sometimes (although rarely) even in a tent next to the battlefield.
The fundamental aim of making photos using both of these techniques is to
imitate pictures from the past through capturing reenactment events in them. Pho¬
tographers undertaking this task are often reenactors themselves (in the case of war
cameramen these are exclusively men, since women generally were not allowed to
be ona battlefield; however, women also make photographs of reenactment events,
from a distance), but they focus mostly on taking photographs and capturing in
them the reenacted ambience of the historical period. This practice brings the other
and distant past to the present in a particular way. In order to achieve it, contem¬
porary photographers deconstruct the image of the past, dividing it into pieces in
order to build a photographic representation of history. They thus create a new im¬
age of history—in the form of a picture taken and edited by themselves (Figs 1-4).
The Other—the past—reenacted and preserved on photography—cropped and
modified according to the contemporary imagination about historical periods—is
designed by photographers. It is construed either by means of modern technology
or by a meticulous re-creation of past photographic techniques. Whichever the
mode of production may be, the resulting photos resemble contemporary imagery
of a particular period.
Research on Reenacting Photography
The data for this article came from various sources. I have browsed Second World
War pictures on over twenty reenactment groups’ websites and websites dedicated
to war photography. It was not a rigorous query—I merely wanted to grasp the
character and the mood of war photographs. In my research I focused above all on
the “reenacted” pictures posted on websites, which are the most common space for
displaying those photographs. I observed the work of photographers on reenacted
battlefields and I talked with them about their work. I spoke with reenactors about