Discovery

Repeat photography allows comparisons of two photographs—the original, and now historic, photograph and the modern-day photograph. These photos, when analyzed, offer new perspectives on existing landscapes, changes that have taken place and—maybe equally interesting—those that have not. With repeat photography, we are no longer dependent upon our faulty memory to recall what was once on the corner of, for example, "Leroux and Route 66." Viewing photo pairings of a particular location may reveal that over the last fifty years the road has been expanded, stoplights added, buildings demolished, crosswalks painted, yet the same vertical "Motel" sign may hang from the corner of a building’s exterior without alteration. The viewer analyzes the photo pairings and easily recognizes significant changes that occurred due to common modernization. But undeniably the viewer also detects in each photograph the identical “Motel” sign, and that viewer can imagine thousands of people passing under the “Motel” sign for decades no matter what else has changed. Repeat photographs of landscapes can show drastic alterations in elevation from the original photography site due to flooding, landslides, or shifts in a river's curvature. Photo matching, therefore, becomes an exercise in discovery that boldly confronts questions about the constant current of time, how the world both changes yet stays the same, and the effects of both small and large natural events and human choices over time.

Discovery | Visual Experiment | Vantage Point and Viewpoint | No "Point and Shoot"</a>