Featured Artist Mark Hersch

Using a technique he calls “rephotography,” artist Mark Hersch gives viewers a sense of the passage of time by combining historic archival images with his own photography. Visit his website to see more of his work.

 

 

Photography has been a big part of my life for over fifty years, ever since I took my first photos with a Kodak Instamatic camera and flash cubes in the 1960s. My love of history and interest in architecture goes back almost as long.

 

 

I set out to combine these lifelong pursuits of mine in a way that I hope evokes powerful feelings in the viewer.

 

 

I want to evoke the same feelings I get when I visit places of great historic significance, particularly in cities in which I have either lived or spent a great deal of time exploring—the winding streets of Boston, the towering skyscrapers of Chicago, the granite monuments in Washington and the rebirth of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire.

 

 

 

My specific technique is called “Rephotography.” It is the process of shooting an image at two different moments in time. Most often it is seen when two photographs of the same subject are shown side-by-side, such as satellite images of the arctic before and after an ice-melt, or of a coastal city before and after a flood.

 

 

I take rephotography a step further. Specifically, I merge rare, archival photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with contemporary photographs I shoot from the same vantage point today, then painstakingly blend them together into a single image to reveal parts of the old world and parts of the new. I call this collection “Time After Time: Historic American Rephotography.”

 

 

More than anything, I hope my work creates a conversation. A conversation about the passage of time; about how things change, but also, in many ways, how they remain the same.

 

 

It is very relevant to the era in which we find ourselves, where historic preservation is at the forefront of many leading architectural projects throughout the country and around the world.

 

 

I’m most grateful for the opportunities this project has afforded me to showcase my work to audiences at major art fairs and festivals. In 2018, I will be exhibiting at a number of prestigious shows, including the Arlington Festival of the Arts in Arlington, Virginia; the A La Carte and Art Festival in Mountain View California; the Paradise City Art Festival outside of Boston; and the Port Clinton Art Festival and Old Town Art Festival in Chicago.

 

 

You can see the entire “Time After Time: Historic American Rephotography” collection on my website.

 

Artist Mark Hersch invites you to follow him on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

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