As a follow-on to my last post, members might be interested in seeing how the two different 'Valleys of the Shadow of Death', one taken by Roger Fenton in April 1855 and the other by James Robertson/Felice Beato later in the same year, look today (at least in 2012 when I last visited the Crimea!).
The first colour photograph below shows the site where Fenton took his well known evocative war image of a dirt road covered with expended round shot (see right). Fenton took two photographs here. Another shows the road empty of round shot. Investigations have revealed that the empty road picture was undoubtedly taken first. This strongly suggests that Fenton and/or his assistant Marcus Sparling arranged the round shot on the road for dramatic effect. I personally have no problem with this as Fenton was first and foremost an artist and had artistic licence. Spent Russian round shot fired from the Redan Bastion and overshooting gun batteries on the British Left Attack before Sevastopol used to gather here.
The second colour photograph below was the location of the photograph taken by Robertson/Beato that was shown in my last post. It is of the Vorontsov (Woronzoff) Ravine and some of its caves, which were used to store ammunition and accommodate a telegraph station. At the time of the Crimean War, the Vorontsov Road from Yalta entered Sebastopol through this ravine and spent Russian round shot fired from the Malakhov Bastion at the British Right Attack before Sevastopol used to collect here.
.
Comments