We’ve been mulling over names for the project and have settled on “Changing Denver.” Simple, and pays homage to Berenice Abbott’s book, “Changing New York.” Hers was not a rephotographic attempt, but documentation of the city in 1935-1938 for the Federal Art Project. An incredible achievement; 302 images. New York Public Library has the archive: […]
Today I brought home 37 beautiful sets of matted photographs (111 photographs: 1937-1978-2012).This is the first phase of the rephotographic project. The next step is to print the remaining 180 streetcorner views. I will need to purchase scans from History Colorado for the 1937 images and then digitize the 1978 images. Most of the 2009-2012 […]
This past week I published a book! The one I planned to do through blurb.com: “Love Letter to the Railroad Yards.” The 30 or so photographs featured in the book came from my 1976-77 images of the yards in Denver, done with B&W infrared film (no longer made by Kodak). As I noted before, I […]
Almost done with the Kickstarter script. Sam and I went over plans for the video and decided to use “Seeds” as a backdrop, for at least part of it. Wish that parking lot on 16th street wasn’t there. Denver parking lots: the bane of my existence since 1974! I’ll have to look at the older […]
Today I printed out the 2009-2012 prints that correspond to the 37 that were exhibited in 1981. For the most part they look really good. A couple of them could use a re-do because of Denver’s harsh summer light. We may (gulp) finally go digital on at least a couple of them, as Chris recommended. […]
Today Sam and I had lunch with a friend who owns a building on Wazee St. We ate at McCormick’s in the Oxford Hotel, then walked over to the building, which was designed by Frank Edbrooke about a hundred years ago. (Edbrooke was the architect of both the Brown Palace and the Oxford.) Soon we’ll […]
Finally we’re getting some rain in Denver, but mostly it’s wind and thunder. One can only hope that the lightning doesn’t spark another fire. Got the negatives back from that smoky morning I photographed in Denver. The intersection of Wynkoop and 16th is highly frustrating. Once again, the Tattered Cover building is very dark and […]
Yesterday I got up at 5 am to photograph some sites that needed to be done again. I took the 6 am bus down to Denver, did the photographing in an hour, and then had a Bruegger’s bagel (first time). The light was diffused by the smoke from our numerous fires, so the shadows weren’t […]
I am putting the finishing touches on a deed of gift to use for the oral history interviews. The interviews will mostly be conducted in audio (that’s the current plan), but some will be in video. I hope to talk with some 90-plus year-olds who live or lived downtown, a businessman, and a structural engineer. […]
On another note, I found all my old prints last night. There were many more views of the railroad yards that I’ve forgotten about. Most date to 1977, a few from 1976, and a very few from 1978. (By 1978, I was moving forward with the rephotographic project.) It will be a difficult decision to […]
I am going to look into some fundraising opportunities through Kickstarter. It’s a grassroots opportunity to get support from people who believe in your project. I believe we will use it for printing costs, possibly usage costs, and other activities. As we approach the end of the photographic phase, it’s time to look into bringing […]
After consulting with three engineers, I can now safely assume that the zigzag structure on or behind Windsor Dairy in the 1937 photograph is a cooling unit of some kind. The 1929 Sanborn map for that part of Blake Street noted that there was an ice cream manufacturing unit in that part of the building […]
“Three viaducts.” This is Wynkoop and 15th Street, 1978. We’re looking at the 15th street viaduct (built after 1937), the 16th street viaduct (built before 1937), and in the very far distance, the 20th street viaduct. All three have been demolished. Of interest is the Barteldes Seeds building entrance onto the 16th street viaduct. You […]
I’m wrapping up the first round of documentation, which consists of filing all the xeroxes from 1937, the prints from 1978-79, and some (not all) prints from 2009-2012. The files are organized street by street. The documentation consists of entering information about landmarks in each photograph, noting the dates photographed in the 1970’s, any atmospheric […]
For several weeks now I’ve been entering data on a spreadsheet about each streetcorner for the three time periods, 1937, 1978-79, 2010-2012. Hopefully this will not only make it easier to identify the images themselves, but provide information on what buildings or other features existed at the times. I am struck by the plethora of […]
Yesterday came home from Denver around 11:00–still cold and it was drizzling in D. Dan and I decided to go back so I could finish up with Arapahoe and 18th/19th. Filtered sunlight. Realized that the footprints of the big buildings are so (OBVIOUSLY) big–duh–that the same buildings dominate many many photographs. Makes things a little […]
To Denver today. The weather is crummy, but cloudy, which means buildings can be seen from all sides without big shadows. Nonetheless, my hands were really cold and I think slowed things down. I had to go to Starbucks for coffee and to warm my hands. Wasn’t it 85 degrees a few days ago?I photographed […]
Glad to see some folks are viewing the blog! One of these days the project will be complete and Sam’s fine 2010-2012 photographs will all be available along with my 1978 photographs…all 215 of them!I’m happy to report he’s actually going to be working in Lower Downtown!!!! (Blake and 19th) Somehow fitting for the work […]
Moving forward with this project full speed. There are lots of details to take care of. For example, we have 40 prints from the old series (1937) that were done at the Historical Society. We have all my negatives and prints from 1978. Plus contact sheets. Plus documentation, folders and folders. Now we have negatives, […]
Sam and I photographed 15 streetcorners today on Blake St. The most poignant was the absence of Constitution Hall, an 1866 building that began as a bank. The building was the site of the signing of the State Constitution in 1875-76. Sadly, although on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was torched in […]
We’re using a Canon EOS camera which is very different from the one I used in ’78–a Kodak Retina Reflex. The 50 mm lens worked perfectly to reproduce the views from ’37. The Canon, even at 50 mm, picks up a lot of foreground. We still have parallax, of course, which is more problematic with […]
Today was a wonderfully cloudy day in Denver and Boulder; a few raindrops and some spectacular clouds visible north of the D&F Tower. I photographed the following: 1) 878 (Wynkoop railroad bridge, now a walking bridge). When I photographed this in 1978, I stood on the concrete bank of Cherry Creek. Now of course that’s […]
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