Chamberlin Hotel and Ft. Monroe
This image is the first in a series of Aerial photography projects that I am working on. This images was recorded from a R44 Raven II Helicopter owned by Hampton Roads Helicopters, Inc. We were at approximately 50o feet above Hampton Roads shooting this image of the Former Chamberlin Hotel on the grounds of Ft. Monroe. The moat and fort are visible to the right of the Chamberlin in the background.
The image was recorded with a Canon EOS 5d with an EF28-80mm F/3.5 lens at ISO200 at 80mm-F/5.6-1/800sec.
Upon it's completion in 1722, The Governor's Palace was considered one of the finest homes in Colonial America. It has been home to seven Royal Governor's, Patrick Henry and also Thomas Jefferson until the Capitol was moved to Richmond. The Palace has also served as a hospital twice during The Revolutionary War. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1781. The Restoration below was completed in 1934.
George Wythe (1726-6/08/1806) was born in Chesterton, Virginia, present day Hampton, Virginia. His illustrious career included careers as a lawyer, a judge, and a prominent law professor at the college of William and Mary. Wythe taught such notable Americans as Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, James Monroe, and John Marshall. Thomas Jefferson once refereed to Wythe as a "second father" and the two remained close friends all their lives. In 1774 and again in 1775 he was elected to the Continental Congress and was a signer or the Declaration of Independence. In 1777 he was elected speaker of the house for the Virginia House of Delegates, and in 1778 he was named one of three judges to the Chancery Court of Virginia, and became chancellor in 1789. He was also one of four prominent Virginians that designed the seal of Virginia with the motto "Sic Semper Tyrannis" that is still in use today. Wythe was poisoned in Richmond, Virginia in 1806 with arsenic along with his freed slave Lydia Broadnax and her son Michael Brown by Wythe's grand-nephew George Wythe Sweeney. Wythe and Brown both secummed to the arsenic while Lydia Broadnax survived the poisoning and was very vocal in laying the blame for the poisoning at the feet of George Sweeney.
The Wythe House' pictured above is believed to have been designed in the mid 1750's by George Wythe's Father-in-Law Richard Taliaferro, and is arguably one the best looking Colonial homes in Williamsburg. Richard Taliaferro's daughter Elizabeth and her Husband George Wythe lived in the house for more than thity years. The house is located on Palace Green in Colonial Williamsburg next to the Bruton Parish Church. Colonial Williamsburg acquired the house in 1938 and the house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
To learn more about this fascinating American I recommend the Book: "I am Murdered - George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing that Shocked a New Nation" by Bruce Chadwick.
I recorded this image in January 2009 in Poquoson, Virginia. There was a thin film of ice on the shallower edges of back river due to a three day cold snap. I found this Carolina Skiff at the end of a country road and thought it made a wonderful black and white image.
Technical Details- Canon EOS 5d - EF 17-40mm f/4L USM-ISO 200, 40mm, f/13, 1/320sec
©2009 B. Payden Photography, LLC
http://www.bpaydenphotography.com
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