Teen's photo exhibit will benefit battlefields

September 10, 2005 1:06 am

An artillery piece stands watch over Hazel Grove on the Chancellorsville battlefield.

Once a killing ground for young men in blue and gray, and still delineated by venerable stone markers, the Lee's Hill portion of the Fredericksburg battlefield now bustles with new housing tracts and shopping centers.

RIGHT: Stephen Thompson says he especially enjoys shooting reflective surfaces--like the water in this bog near Chancellorsville.

WHAT KIND of project can you expect from a talented teen photographer and a father who is a serious student of the Civil War?

Fredericksburg-area residents can see for themselves Sept. 17-18 when Valor Art & Frame Ltd. on Caroline Street hosts a photographic exhibition by 18-year-old Stephen Thompson.

The display will consist of about 20 photographs from four local Civil War battlefields--Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. Copies of all of the photos will be available for purchase; half the proceeds will go to the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust for its preservation efforts.

Thompson, a rising senior at Osbourn High School in Manassas, said he got the idea for the exhibition from his father, Marc.

"This is really my dad's brainchild," said the younger Thompson. "When he saw some of my photos for a school project, he said, 'These are really, really good.' That's how the idea started. He suggested a public show, and I'm always willing to help the preservation cause if I can."

Marc Thompson is a retired Air Force colonel who volunteers at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and frequently leads groups touring the region's battlefields. He also serves on the executive board of the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table.

"My dad knows where everything happened on the battlefields," said Stephen Thompson. "But he left all the photography decisions up to me."

Asked if he has a favorite photo, Stephen described a shot from the Chancellorsville battlefield in western Spotsylvania County.

"I like to take pictures of reflective surfaces--like a puddle of water--and focus on what is being reflected," he said.

"And there was a swampy area near Chancellorsville that had that mirrored effect on some trees. I know that one will be in the show, for sure."

Thompson said he has been interested in photography since the seventh grade and has actively pursued the hobby for two years.

"I enjoy music and art," he said. "I guess I'm just a creative person."

Thompson said that among the four local battlefields, Chancellorsville is probably his favorite because he is most knowledgeable about that 1863 conflict.

"But from a photographic standpoint, I think Fredericksburg is the most interesting," he said. "You have the city as a background and the famous stone wall."

Valor Art and Frame Ltd., at 718 Caroline St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust is an organization dedicated to the preservation of Virginia's Civil War battlefields. Its Web site, cvbt.org, details its acquisition of almost 500 acres of historic land.

Besides being pleased that his exhibition will benefit Civil War preservation, Stephen Thompson said he thought this father-son project also has helped him grow as a photographer.

"It stretched my creativity," he said. "People might think a battlefield is a battlefield is a battlefield. But I didn't want to shoot the same kind of photo 25 times. This project forced me to keep looking for new perspectives.

"And then, I was able to hang out with my father. That was kind of nice, too."

LEE WOOLF, a longtime reporter and editor with The Free Lance-Star, is bureau manager at the newspaper's North Stafford office. Contact him at 540/720-5470, or lwoolf@freelancestar.com.