Categories: World War I

A World War I Battlefield

Battle of Zonnebeke by Frank Hurley. Image source.

This photography was taken during the 1918 Battle of Zonnebeke, Belgium. It shows the infantry in their trenches, while planes fly overhead through the smoke of exploding shells. But this image actually isn’t quite what it appears to be. The photographer, Frank Hurley (most famous for his photography on the early Antarctic expeditions), created this image with an early form of “photoshopping.”

Early photographers did not believe that it was dishonest to alter photographs, and Hurley and others were even willing to stage events after the fact to get the photo they were looking for. This picture was probably created by merging a photo of the infantry with others of planes and explosions, to create the impressive final image.

Joshua Horn

Share
Published by
Joshua Horn

Recent Posts

On Bradford’s Trail: Clark’s Island

Clark's Island was the first landing spot of the Pilgrims in Plymouth Bay. It remains…

2 weeks ago

Oliver Cromwell: The Lord Protector

Cromwell at the Battle of Nasby The unthinkable had happened! Englishmen were at war –…

3 weeks ago

On Bradford’s Trail: Cape Cod

Outer dunes of Cape Cod The Pilgrims hiked through landscape like this in their first…

3 weeks ago

On Bradford’s Trail: Connecticut

During the summer we made the last big research trip for William Bradford research, and…

2 months ago

Was William Bradford Secretly a Jew?

I recently came across some pretty salacious claims about William Bradford and the Pilgrims. As…

4 months ago

Scrooby Manor for Sale! – See Inside

The Scrooby Manor farmhouse Two years ago, you may remember, we saw that William Bradford's…

6 months ago