What is a Rephotographic Study?

The term Rephotographic Survey Project (RSP) was coined in 1977 by American landscape photographers Mark Klett, Ellen Manchester, and JoAnn Verburg. Their concept was to select iconic landscape photographic prints of the American West made by quintessential nineteenth century photographers Timothy O'Sullivan and William Henry Jackson. They examined compositional qualities of the prints using an academic approach. Their parameters were to find the uncertain locations of the historical nineteenth century photographs, followed by creating new photographs of the sites that were meant to duplicate the original images exactly. The matching qualities, combined with the often dramatic changes within, are fascinating examinations of entropy, time, and place.

In 2010, a photographic examination of place began in Northeast Ohio that spans multiple decades. Unlike Klett, Manchester, and Verburg, the Northeastern Ohio Rephotographic Survey adds societal use and reinvestment as additional signifiers of change over time.

A Synergistic Partnership

Partnering with the rich resource of the photograph archive of the Cleveland Main Library, Cuyahoga Community College Associate Professor of Photography Daniel Levin challenged his students to create contemporary photographs based on prints from the library’s archive of 1.4 million photographs. Through the professional collaboration of Photograph Collection librarians Margaret Baughman (2010 to 2015) and Brian Meggitt (2016 to present), and their staff of archivists, a lengthy symbiotic partnership culminated in this collection of rephotographic diptychs. This project will conclude in 2028.

Parameters

The historical photographic print chosen must be of Northeast Ohio, must originate from the nineteenth century through 1970, and must be of the highest photographic quality.

The camera must be positioned in the exact same location as the original print, including distance from subject to camera, focal length, height, tilt, and rotation.

Exhibitions

Beyond the eighteen year series, which included a large public exhibition held in the Photograph Archive of Cleveland’s library, a sister exhibition was held at Heights Arts Gallery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

For the latter exhibition, half of the rephotographic surveys were created by well known fine art and commercial photographers in Northeast Ohio, while the other half derived from the college series created by senior students. The exhibition’s opening exceeded capacity. There is a deep fascination with this sociological study that engages the viewer.

Daniel Levin, MFA