Waterloo or not...

[Jim McDougall]

This famous photo was taken in Sevastopol on April 23, 1855, by photographer Roger Fenton who was sent there by Thomas Agnew of London to capture images of the Crimean War in place there.

The Crimean War was one of the first to be observed in a journalistic sense by 'war correspondents', and Roger Fenton one of the first official photographers.
While it is fascinating to see images in 'real time' of such historic events, it was typical that such photographs were 'staged' to dramatize or recreate the circumstances. Obviously it would have been difficult to move the equipment and properly set up each shot spontaneously.

In this case, the 'road' was probably somewhere near the location where the famous 'Charge of the Light Brigade' took place. The British troops were under constant shelling and gathered shot for further use, and it is believed the balls that line this road were either thrown there as such..........or more likely these were 'staged' there for dramatic effect. Another photo from the same vantage point is void of cannon shot.
The valley was apparently called 'valley of death' by the British forces from that constant barrage.

The famed charge of the Light Brigade had taken place October 25, 1854, and Lord Tennyson penned his famous poem, which of course had used the phrase 'valley of death' on December 2,1854. It was published in the 'Examiner' on December 9, 1854.

Fenton first exhibited this photograph in September of 1855, so the title was likely with reference to Tennyson's use of the 'valley' phrase.

1. The 1855 photo of cannon ball strewn valley by Fenton
2. artistic rendition of the action in 1854 , the charge.
3.the area today contains a vineyard as seen in this panorama