Poster for the Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory II Conference: Spatiality, memory and visualisation of culture/nature relationships: theoretical aspects Tallinn 22-24 October 2009 www.ut.ee/CECT

1. Holger Vaga, Seasons Project HDR, selection of
photographs taken between September 25th, 2008,
and May 26th, 2009.5
Depicting change. Rephotography reviewed
Photography has ever since its invention been used to extend the borders of human
visual perception of time. It can render graspable processes that are both too fast or too Vahur Puik Centre for Landscape and Culture
slow for the human eye or consciousness. For the phenomena such as changes in www.google.com/profiles/vahur.puik Estonian Institute of Humanities
landscape time-lapse photography or rephotography are used. When time-lapse vahur@ehi.ee Tallinn University
photography consists of many shots taken at a certain interval and it is ordinarily
presented in an animated form in order to perceptually speed up the process it is
depicting, rephotography aims to demonstrate the change as a result, to give a
comparison of then and now. Although the distinction between the two methods is not
strict, time-lapse photography is rather an intentional approach of one single author while
rephotography has not to be performed by the photographer of the initial shot that can
originate from the past years before its repetition.
The rephotographic method as such was very consciously put to use in France already in
the last quater of the 19th century for the purpose of evaluating the success of the
reforestation process on the mediterranean slopes1, more recently it's been employed for
similar, very applied reasons in Finland for the monitoring of the changing rural
(previously) agricultural landscapes2. But the term 'rephotography' was made known by a
team of american photographers in the end of 1970s and beginning of 1980s with their From left to right:
Rephotographic Survey Project which tracked down the vantage points of the famous Timothy O'Sullivan, 1872. Green River Buttes, Green River, Wyo. (United States Geological Survey)
Mark Klett and Gordon Bushaw for the Rephotographic Survey Project, 1979. Castle rock, Green River, Wyo.
photographs of American West and reshot the views captured first during the expeditions Mark Klett, Kyle Bajakian, Byron Wolfe and Toshi Ueshina for the Third View Project, 1997. Castle rock,
a century before. Of these rephotographers Mark Klett (with actually a background in Green River, Wyo.
geology) gathered a new crew around the turn of the millennia to carry out another round
of rephotography to be called the Third View3.
Byron Wolfe and Mark Klett for the Third View Project, 2000.
Panorama from O’Sullivan’s “Canyon of Lodore” camera position.
Inset: Timothy O’Sullivan, 1872. Canyon of Lodore, Green River,
Wyoming.
Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe, 2007. Panorama from Hopi Point
on the Grand Canyon, made over two days extending the view of
Ansel Adams.
Right: Ansel Adams, 1941, Grand Canyon National Park,
Arizona. (Courtesy of the Center for Creative Photography,
Tucson, AZ)
The primary goal of the rephotography has been to exemplify the changes which have Rephotographic diptychs or triptychs have a powerful narrative potential—on one hand the
taken place in the environment. In order to achieve that end, that is have the connections for building up narrative are easily accessible for the viewer, and comparing
difference stand out best, the similitude of the original photograph and its later pictures, looking for similarities and differences is very engaging (in that sense the
repetition has to be maximized. That is why not only the vantage point and perspective rephotographic sets are less hermetic than single photographs), but on the other hand the
but also the time of the year and light conditions have to be mimicked, as all the interpretation is (although implicitly transparent) strongly channelled (and therefore
deviations (e.g. different shadows) would mislead the detection and identification limited). Peeter Linnap, for instance, has complimented Peeter Tooming's rephotographic
of change. The second and third views of Mark Klett et al. are meticulously precise project "55 years later" in the footsteps of Carl Sarap for its wittiness for leaving all the
repeated photographs, but this kind of exact rephotography actualises the object of responsibility for the conclusions solely to the viewers,4 although the intentional value-
the representation, i.e. landscape, environment, while hiding many aspects of the ladenness of the chosen rephotographic method is quite explicit in the introductions of the
photographic practice itself. Following the steps of their earlier colleagues the book series "55 years later" by Tooming himself.
thirdviewers started to reflect upon the subjective role of the photographers in creating
the public images of the iconic landscapes, about the embodied values in their choices of
1 cf. Restaurer la montagne: photographies des eaux et forets du XIXe siècle.
2004. Paris, Arles: Somogy éditions d'art, Museun Arlaten.
view-points etc. If only the old views are reiterated the resulting overall image has its 2 cf. Heikkilä, Tapio 2007. Visual monitoring of Finnish landscapes.
specific bias as the changed pattern of meanings in the landscape will not be revealed Photographic documentation of changes in cultural landscapes. Helsinki:
(for instance new landmarks inexistent at the time of the initial photographing). Thus Taideteollinen korkeakoulu Musta taide.
3 www.thirdview.org
the emergence of a 'new', contextual rephotography during and after the Third View 4 Linnap, Peeter 2007. Kontseptualism ja Eesti dokumentalistika. –
project, which stepped out from the ideological and pictorial borders of the 'old', exact
Silmakirjad: kirjutisi fotograafiast ja visuaalkultuurist 1986–2006. Tartu:
rephotography and started to stress the presence of photographers by including Tartu Kõrgem Kunstikool, p. 60.
autoportrayal and by creating panoramic collages of contemporary and historic 5 www.flickr.com/photos/holger14/sets/72157611794128879/
pictures. In this contextual approach also the ephemeral phenomena and qualities of
Poster available at www.slideshare.net/puik
landscapes came into view.