"Then And Now"

- Composite of a 1906 photograph with a 2019 photograph. Image via Phil Armstrong of Cincinnati Refined.

Recreating historic photographs of Cincinnati.

- LEFT: A Paul Briol view of the PNC tower (image via the Cincinnati Museum Center). RIGHT: a 2019 view of the PNC tower.

I've recently had the opportunity to contribute a few stories to Cincinnati Refined. Over the last few months, I've written about and photographed subjects like the ferris wheel, The Holocaust and Humanity Center, a streetcar-themed bar in OTR, a shoe factory turned apartment complex, a boat that doubled as a floating theater, and a favorite bar from my former neighborhood.

Two recent stories were a series of "then and now" projects that match up historic photographs of the city with a modern view.

And I had interesting people to follow in the footsteps of.

The first was Paul Briol, an iconic Cincinnati photographer who's life story is just as fascinating as the scenes he captured. I was inspired to chase down some of his work after two friends gave me a rescued book originally published by The Cincinnati Historical Society in 1989. A foreword by Briol's daughter gives context to the man behind the camera. There's a lot more I want to understand about Paul Briol, but in the mean time, this was a start in trying to to know who he might've been via the work he produced.

The second series featured work by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information during The Great Depression. The work of the FSA is incredibly significant in both the history of this nation and photography. While the Library of Congress archives don't seem to feature any Queen City shots by heavyweights such as Gordon Parks, Roy Stryker, or Walker Evans, there were several great compositions by the likes of John Vachon, Carl Mydans, and Esther Bubley. I studied the FSA a lot in college. The work done by these men and women captured the United States during a pivotal era. Seeing Cincinnati among the subjects of FSA photographers gives a fresh perspective on their work in addition to how I've come to view local history.

In both of these galleries, there were the occasional liberties that had to be taken or concessions that needed to be made. Many things (such as The Royal Theatre below) simply aren't around anymore and other subjects may lack a certain nostalgic charm that only comes with age/older photography mediums. Nevertheless, if you check out these two stories, I encourage you to think about the photographers who created the images decades earlier and not solely just how things have changed. In many ways, the people making images were just as much a part of this city's story as the physical landscape.

All "modern" shots hail from early 2019. And it's worth pointing out that while the modern images may seem "normal" at this current moment—those images will one day look dated and eventually be just another another timestamp instead of a contemporary angle.

As an example, here's a "then and now" series I did ten years ago. Even in the "modern day" shots, you can see how some things have changed in a decade if you look closely.

And yet, Cincinnati still has quite a bit that's always stayed the same.

The "Then And Now" galleries:
1) Paul Briol
2) Recreating Images from the Library of Congress

- TOP: The Royal Theatre in Downtown Cincinnati as seen in October 1938 by FSA photographer John Vachon. BOTTOM: The same area seen in 2019.