Ed Willis Barnett had quite a military training: he attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, (1917 to 1920) and served in both World Wars. He was also an accomplished fencer, and earned a position on the 1928 U.S. Olympic fencing team. That year the summer Olympics were held in Amsterdam, so he traveled to Europe for the competition. Through both his Olympic and military travels Barnett must have seen many artistic and historical sights, and in the 1950s he developed a strong desire to focus on making art, and specifically, photography. Barnett had dabbled with photography in his youth, but was disappointed with the results of commercially processed negatives and prints. He vowed not to pursue photography until he had his own darkroom. When he did get his own studio, he taught himself, and began by photographing friends and family. This article presents an analysis of Barnett's "Sea of Dreams" and "Afternoon Watch." Several projects with relevance to the life and works of Barnett are presented.