We’re all familiar with the genre of photography replicating old scenes, particularly street views, in a modern context. I’ve seen some stunning examples from London, for instance — Piccadilly Circus in 1908 and now in the 21st century. It can be fascinating stuff.
Reader John Wilson from New York State sent a link to one of the best then-and-now articles on the genre from the DCist website. It’s one of the neatest implementations I’ve seen, featuring a now abandoned resort in the Pocono Mountains in north-east Pennsylvania.
The author, Pablo Iglesias Maurer, happened upon a book of colour postcards depicting the resort in the 1960s. So he went along with his camera to rediscover the locations and did an impressive job of matching the perspective in all instances.
The above is just one example, but you can read the full article and see the rest of the gallery in https://dcist.com/story/17/08/30/abandoned-postcards-poconos-catskills-animations/.
Thanks to John Wilson for the lead on this story.
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Hi! The link no longer works. Can I find these photos elsewhere?
We’ve fixed the link. I suspect it hasn’t worked since the article was published in 2017. However, in amending this we may have lost the image from the article, so you’ll need to follow the link. This old article was before we moved the site to WordPress, and we know that some old photographs have been lost. Mike
Excellent idea and a good find Mike.
I wonder if one could cheat and use some of Martin Parr’s "seaside postcards" stuff as source material?
Yes that would be a good commission for you! Another year of travelling the Promenades of the land. Seriously, though, it is a good idea.