Four years ago Darren Bernaerdt decided to give photography students at Langara College a different kind of assignment. He sent them to Vancouver Archives to research 100-year-old photographs of the city, and then he put them on the streets to capture those same images, matching the exact perspective and angle of view.
While it could have been a really interesting then and now assignment, Bernaerdt was teaching Photoshop so he had the students put the old and new together and the finished results went into the Merging Time Exhibit at Vancouver Archives’ home at Vanier Park.
The end result is fascinating—streetcars and horse and carts travel alongside modern day buses and cars. Crowds at Victory Square on V.E. Day 1945 are in the forefront with modern buildings in the background. A 1930 fire truck puts out a fire in Gastown, and the building was saved and lives on.
A bonus is that students come away with a different perspective of Vancouver and an appreciation of heritage, says Bernaerdt.
“A number of our students are from outside the Lower Mainland so it’s a way that they can get exposed to the city that they are now living in,” he says. “It’s fascinating to see some of the changes. The Kitsilano area was just forest 105 years ago, that’s not that long really.”
The images show areas all over the city: Granville Street, East Hastings, False Creek, Stanley Park and Chinatown are all subjects of the students’ lenses.
The efforts of this year’s class will be at the City of Vancouver Archives until the end of June. You can also pick up a set of 12 cards with six different designs from previous years works, with the proceeds going to support Creative Arts students at Langara College.
Next Week: Then and Now Images of Vancouver (from a Langara photography student’s perspective)
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7 comments on “Merging Time: A photographic essay of Vancouver”
How interesting these are. In a very different context there have been similarly worked photos around recently of the D Day landings in Normandy, also absorbing.
It may have been where the idea came from James. They are great though, and I’ll post more of the student photos on facebook this week, just waiting to get permission.
Eve……Some exceptional photo blending!…. Especially the Water St. fire image.
Very cool. Thanks for showing them to us.
What an excellent assignment Darren Bernaert gave to his students and with this completed project we can all benefit now from the end results that they have gathered. I hope that these photos will be used more often in the future by way of postcards, etc.
Even though I don’t live in Vancouver, I will write my friend who lives there, who will certainly appreciate this gift you have added to the history of Vancouver.
J0-Ann, I believe that there are still greeting cards with the images on them for sale at the Langara College Bookstore.
I’ve included the link at the bottom of the post. It’s a bit long. You can search the Langara College bookstore under cards… $10 is the cost for a set of 6 cards.
http://mycampusstore.langara.bc.ca/shop_product_detail.asp?catalog_group_id=LTQ&catalog_group_name=U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM&catalog_id=0&catalog_name=U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM&pf_id=1496&product_name=TWVyZ2luZyBUaW1lIC0gR3JlZXRpbmcgQ2FyZHMgQm94IE9mIDEyLSA2IERlc2lnbnM&type=1&search_text=cards&f=
I used to shop with my sister at Spencers Dept. Store on Hastings & Richards St as my sister worked in the office at Vancouver Tug Boat & I worked at The Royal Bank of Canada at Hastings and Hornby St as we were both close by in 1946.