Past and Present

I took the black and white picture at PCC - Pasadena City College sometime back in 1990 while taking a photography class. This was a picture amongst many others I took during that course. At this time in my life I was living in South Pasadena, CA. The girl in picture just happened to be at what I considered to be a great spot with the sun at her back and side on the West and the metal school sign. I asked her permission to take her picture while she was reading just as she was when I approached her.

26 years later while driving around Southern California with my daughter Olivia; I decided to give her a tour of my old school where I obtained an Associate of Arts degree prior to moving on to college. Of course the school is much more modern all around with many new buildings. The old buildings are still there though and will be there many years after.

As we were walking by this building, I remembered the picture I snapped many years before so I asked my daughter to sit and tried to recreate the same shot.

The results this time were immediate with a smartphone. I could retak the shot until I was happy with result. 26 years before I had to shoot entire film, develop it and wait for results. I made two prints of the original shot one on black and white and a sepia.

Here is the shot with my daughter.

Since the original focus of the shot was the girl with the sign next to her, as I remember it, I got closer to Olivia and snapped a second picture.

Since my intent is to show the Past and Present, I put the two pictures together for comparison.