Above 63

I’m often struck how things come together in unexpected ways. This post is about my love of rephotography and an affection for a spot in Reykjavik. Rephotography is the repeated photographing of a place to demonstrate change over time.

The Photo: On a warm sunny day in 2017 Kathleen and I took a walk through Reykjavik. We lingered around Tjörnin and took pictures. It was a lovely day. When we got home and looked at those photos one stood out and we liked it so much we had the photo made into a canvas that has hung in our living room for the past several years. We love that photo and we get a lot of complements on it. Little did I know that I would pass that spot every day on my way to work at Háskóli Íslands.

Some of my own learning history: When I was on sabbatical at Arizona State in 2005 I got to spend a day in Mark Klett’s photo studio. I was interested in his rephotography work and i contacted him to learn more about his method. I remember that day because I was overwhelmed by being in the studio of a Guggenheim fellow (it was a real “fan boy” experience because I like his work so well). I was also deeply touched by his kindness and generosity. He talked about his work and method and gave me a great piece of advice: “relax about the method and just take the photos. Don’t worry about getting it perfect.” It’s probably good advice in general.

How this comes together: Iceland continually startles me with it’s ephemeral beauty. An ordinary place will have the right light and sky and it becomes spectacular “today.” One of the things I’ve learned by living and working alongside Lake Michigan is that it looks different every day. I decided to look at my walking commute by Tjörnin with that perspective and use rephotography to capture place. Some of these images are ordinary and others are more spectacular. You decide which ones you like.

I do apologize that I have not edited these down to match the dimensions of the one over my fireplace–I will probably edit and print a few of these. Once you open one of these you can page through the rest of them with your browser.