Rephotographing KU

Old photographs are really time-machines.

For the past few years now, a number students at the University of Kansas have been exploring the history of their school through a novel technique–rephotography.

Rephotography is act of re-taking a historic photograph in as close approximation as possible in the current moment. The concept is quite simple, but the results can often be quite profound. Indeed, rephotography has the power to transport people into the past.

This blog is the repository of some of their work, as well as a resource for students, educators, and the general public who would like to try their had at rephotographing their world.

REPHOTOGRAPHY RESOURCES

For more information about the history and technique of rephotography, Wikipedia is a great place to start.

The technology available to compose rephotographs is constantly changing. This list of resources is up-to-date, but who knows for how long. Check out the following:

• Google Photo Scan is miraculous. Use this to scan photos to your phone.
• Repro is a useful app for composing rephotographs on your phone. Launch app, select your scanned photo, re-shoot.

When it comes to presenting your efforts to the world, there are a few options:

• re.photo is a wonderful collection of re-photographs. You should upload your rephotos here.
• Adobe Spark allow people to make stylish web-presentations of their work VERY easily. And its free.  My 20 minute version of a Spark presentation.
• History Pin offers you the chance to stitch your photo directly into Google maps. It can be a little wonky, but is very powerful when it works such as in this example.

If these folks can get Project Rephoto off the ground, it will be very useful.