Back in late September, we spent an afternoon with 4 Kompanie Grossdeutschland at the Crowle and Ealand 1940s weekend. Bit different to the weddings we’re used to shooting, but we had so much fun.
We had no idea what to expect as we parked up next to a caravan park in Lincolnshire. After yomping past the boating lake we were confronted with tanks and fighter planes and then we rendezvoused with our new friends. a company of fully armed German soldiers from WWII. There were no flowers or confetti in sight, we were well out of our element!
Turns out they were all super friendly folk. Part of a surprisingly (to us at least) large living history community who travel the land putting on displays and battle re-enactments from WWII. Aside from the two large battles they performed, there were dozens of little camps set up where each company would interact with the spectators, sharing their expansive knowledge of this dark portion of recent history. You could even buy a serving of hearty stew from some British cooks.
Aside from epic battles, we loved snapping everyone enjoying the day, often dressed in full 40s fashions. Our visit to the Crowle and Ealand 1940s Weekend was a strange twist on the street photography we occasionally practice but hey, we loved it.
We can’t recommend a visit to one of these events highly enough and we’d jump at the chance to shoot one again. Get yer sen out to one!
