Maryland

Sunrise from Leesylvania State Park (2008) /  by Todd Henson

Sunrise from Leesylvania State Park

One afternoon while going through my older photos I stumbled across this one, which might be my first sunrise with a DSLR. I believe I’d purchased the camera two to three months before this, and I decided it was time to try a sunrise, so I got up early enough to arrive at Leesylvania State Park and watch the sun rise above the far shore of the Potomac River. The distant shore is in Maryland and I was in Virginia. There was a single sailboat in the water somewhat near shore. I tried to position the sun so its reflection was completely in the water, creating that line of reflected sunlight. Nothing spectacular, but I still have fond memories of creating this one.

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Fort Hunt Park, Virginia /  by Todd Henson

Entering Fort Hunt Park, part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia

Fort Hunt Park is located near Mount Vernon, along the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, on land once owned by George Washington as part of his River Farm plantation. It is part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which is a national park. Though primarily a recreational park, with sports fields, playgrounds and areas for picnics or cookouts, it is also of historic significance.

Pavilion A at Fort Hunt Park, located at the main parking area, surrounded by open fields

Fort Hunt was completed in 1897, just in time for the Spanish-American War. It was built as part of the Endicott Coastal Defense System, proposed by Secretary of War William C. Endicott, to upgrade the country’s coastal defenses. Being located on the Potomac River, Fort Hunt, along with Fort Washington, across the river in Maryland, were tasked with protecting Washington, D.C. from naval assault.

A view of Battery Mount Vernon at Fort Hunt Park along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia.

Though completed before the start of the Spanish-American War, Fort Hunt never actually saw any action during that war. As technology advanced, the coastal defense system provided by installations like Fort Hunt were no longer needed, so its guns were dismantled and sent off to support World War I operations. But the fort continued to be used by the military until the 1930s, when it was converted into a Civilian Conservation Corp camp.

In 1933, Fort Hunt became Fort Hunt Park, part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a national park. However, with the onset of World War II, Fort Hunt was temporarily turned back over to the military and used for top secret military intelligence operations. This lasted four years, after which it returned to its status as national park land.

Today you can visit and walk along some of the remains of the military fortifications of Fort Hunt. There are four batteries still located in the park, as well as the Battery Commander’s Station.

Battery Sater

Battery Sater, Fort Hunt Park, Virginia

Battery Sater was completed in 1904 and supported three 3-inch rapid-fire guns with a range of 4.5 miles. It was the last of the four gun batteries completed, and also served as a command center for mines placed in the Potomac River between Fort Hunt and Fort Washington.

One section of Battery Sater from the ground level.

Looking out at Battery Sater from the top level.

A leaf filled walkway of Battery Sater.

A look inside one of the closed off rooms of Battery Sater.

I enjoyed photographing Battery Sater. It was one of the two batteries, along with Battery Mount Vernon, that supported three guns, making it second largest of the structures. There were lots of interesting little nooks and crannies to see while walking its walls. I even tried using the high ISO features of my camera to see into the dark of some of it’s closed off rooms.

Battery Porter

Looking up at Battery Porter, Fort Hunt Park, Virginia

Battery Porter was completed in 1902 and supported one 5-inch rapid-fire gun with a range of 7 miles. This gun was intended to draw enemy ships into range of the larger and more powerful guns of Battery Mount Vernon.

Battery Porter is fairly small, as it supported a single gun, so I didn’t create many photographs of this location.

Battery Robinson

Battery Robinson, just outside the main entrance to Fort Hunt Park, Virginia

Battery Robinson was completed in 1902 and, similar to Battery Porter, supported one 5-inch rapid-fire gun, whose purpose was also to draw enemy ships into range of the larger guns.

Battery Robinson is located just outside the fenced entrance to the park. I photographed it on a different day than the majority of the photos in this post. With the leaves off the trees I noticed you can see the Potomac River from this location.

Battery Mount Vernon

Battery Mount Vernon, Fort Hunt Park, Virginia

Battery Mount Vernon was the first and the largest of the batteries at Fort Hunt. It was completed in 1898 and supported three 8-inch breech loading disappearing guns with a range of 8 miles. They were called disappearing guns because their recoil energy was used to lower them down below the protective walls. When they were reloaded they would be raised back above the walls to fire.

Looking down the length of Battery Mount Vernon, one of the batteries to the left.

Looking out at a battery of Battery Mount Vernon.

Turning away from the battery, towards the rest of the fort.

Looking out of Battery Mount Vernon to the rest of Fort Hunt Park.

Gated off rooms at the lower level of Battery Mount Vernon. Nothing can escape graffiti these days.

Battery Mount Vernon was the most interesting to photograph, as it was the largest and most complex of the structures. You can’t go inside any of these structures (they were closed off to protect the public from the asbestos and other chemicals in use at the time), but it has a lot of interesting elements along the outside. I created a few more artistic photographs of Battery Mount Vernon, including An Eye to the Battery, Facing Down the Tower, and Stepping From the Dark.

Battery Commander’s Station

The Battery Commander’s Station is the tower to the right. Battery Mount Vernon is on the left.

The Battery Commander’s Station was a tower used to observe the Potomac River and direct fire at oncoming ships. It could also be used to signal Fort Washington across the river in Maryland.

I’ve visited Fort Hunt Park a couple times now. It is a small park and easy to see in a short span of time. Of course, with the photographic opportunities of the batteries it would also be easy to spend many hours here. I hope to return during different seasons to see how the scenery around the batteries change. Perhaps I’ll update this page in the future with any new photographs I create.

I wouldn’t necessarily plan a long trip just to visit Fort Hunt Park. But if you’re in the area, or interested in history, it’s well worth the visit if time permits. It is easy to get to, right off the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and is open year-round from sunrise to sunset. If you visit leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of the park and its old fortifications.

Originally posted May 7, 2019. Updated March 2, 2020.

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Angular Flow No. 2 /  by Todd Henson

Angular Flow No. 2

The Story

Angular Flow No. 2 is a photograph of water flowing over a dam above Great Falls on the Potomac River, between Maryland and Virginia. This photograph was created on the Virginia side of the river. A previous image, Angular Flow No. 1, was created on the Maryland side. As with the previous photograph, I had been photographing the falls and some of the various birds that congregate along the river.

At one point I ended up at the dam upriver from the falls. For the previous photograph I was standing upriver from the dam looking downriver. For this photograph I was standing just downriver from the dam looking upriver.

As before, I loved the patterns and tones created by the flowing water as it flowed over the dam. And I wanted to capture the interesting forms created by the churned up water below the dam, so I knew I needed a fast shutter speed.

The Technique

To get a fast shutter speed I just needed to open up the aperture of my lens, which lets in more light allowing the sensor to get a proper exposure in less time. As a side effect this also reduces the depth of field, but I chose such a small portion of the dam, and this was intended to be an abstract image, so the shallow depth of field wasn’t a great concern. You can see the water closest to and furthest from the camera is slightly out of focus due to the large aperture.

Using an aperture of f/5.6 and raising my ISO to 800 let me use a fast shutter speed of 1/2500 second, freezing the foaming water below the dam and letting us see some of the interesting patterns.

The Processing

Below is the raw image before I made any adjustments in Adobe Lightroom. It is a color image, but there isn’t much color and it didn’t contribute anything to the photograph so I knew I would convert to black and white.

The original raw image for Angular Flow No. 2

The exposure was a little darker than I would have preferred so I raised the exposure in Lightroom, lightening up the water. I also brightened the whites and darkened the blacks to add a little more contrast. And finally, I converted the image to black and white and adjusted each color channel to balance the tones. In this case there wasn’t much color in the image so I didn’t tweak much.

Angular Flow No. 2 - The final version in black and white

What do you think, would you have done anything differently? Let me know in the comments below.

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