1/1600 sec at f/4.0, ISO 200, focal length 200mm

The ideal time to walk the streets of Colonial Williamsburg is from dawn to about 10:00AM.  The sun is low, the light is softer, and since the place doesn’t officially open until 10:00 you can walk the streets in relative peace without the usual crush of tourists.  You really get a feel for the period when it is quiet.  The eighteenth century comes into clearer focus: goats and sheep graze lazily in the fields, gardens are being tended, craftsmen are preparing for their long day ahead, horses are being saddled or harnessed, and all around you men and women in period garb are heading to work.  It is a great way to spend a morning.

The image above was captured just before opening time in the summer of 2008.  One of the guides had just arrived at his station and was awaiting his first visitor when I grabbed this.  It is the kind of image that really transports you back to another time.  Had cameras existed in the colonial era, I’m certain someone would have recorded an image just like this one.  The softness of the light and colors combined with the memories of that morning make it my favorite shot of 2008.