It only took 5 years, but I have finally made time to do this project justice. In 2017 I started ‘The Synergy Project’ which was a crude interpretation of my simple idea. I wanted to recreate archive photos of Brighton’s architecture 100 years later.
Prefer video?
This blog is a written version of the video that I have created about this project, so if you prefer to absorb your content that way, click on the link here.
1 - ‘The Embassy’. 1935 & 2022. Captured from the beach, this image shows the blend of Embassy Court when it was first built & 2022
What’s the project?
The ‘now and then’ project is not a new concept, it has been done many many times. But in 2017 it hadn’t been done for Brighton, which was amazing considering the history of this town! The synergy project I admit was a bit rushed. The images were low resolution, not much thought was put into how the images would be merged and the setting imagery was not very precise. But to do the project properly was going to take a long time. It never thought that I would stretch it out over 5 years though!
2 - ‘The Promenade’ 1890 & 2022 - this image was captured from the Band Stand facing west towards Hove lawns
Do it properly
To do the project justice, I approached The Brighton Regency Society, the owners of the archived photography and I am happy to say that loved the project. They provided me with 15 high resolution scans of my chosen views and I set about tracing in the footsteps of the photographers 100 years later. As I talk about in my video, link here, recreating the photos is not always easy. Sometimes the photographers would use a raised platform to get a better vantage point, but that was at a time when there were no cars, just horses; and a lot less people enjoying the seafront. So it is not something that I attempted this time around. Plus, a fair amount of the photos were taken from, the now relic, West Pier; was is now out of the question. I had to pick the photos carefully, to make sure that they could still be replicated.
3 - ‘Beach Lawns’ 1897 & 2022. Another image captured from the Band Stand, showing the original lawns and the West Pier kiosks, now the entrance to the i360.
Why this is important
I think that it’s important to have personal projects like this, and these images show the evolution of Brighton - which you won’t get anywhere else. Brighton is a busy place, there are probably millions of visitors every year and you can imagine the number of photos that are taken here. But all of those photos are scattered on people’s phones, cameras, social media platforms and they have no structure to them. The James Gray archived photos however are catalogued in order from one side of the town to the other. Ideally they would have a similar catalogue of the same images today!
4 - ‘Indoor Bandstand’ - 1907 & 2022. Taken from the promenade, this blended image shows that the Band Stand used to be enclosed
Back to the set up
Although I am not shooting with a large format camera with bellows and hiding underneath a black cloth, I do have a digital camera and photoshop at my disposal. I recreated the images as close as possible, but scans of photos taken 100 years ago don’t contain the metadata, GPS tracking or have their what3words location stamped on the back of them. I will have to line them up as best as I can on location.
5 - ‘The Arches’ - 1925 & 2022. Now a busy open space in front of the arches, the promenade was originally home to a small pool area for boats.
6 - ‘Set Sail’ - 1914 & 2022. Brighton Sailing Club, what looks to be an opening event or anniversary celebration. The day I visited the Sailing Club was still in use, the kayak in frame from one of the members.
How to line them up?
This might be easier to understand by watching the video, but if you intend on creating a now and then project of your own, you need to start with what I like to call anchor points. These are elements within the frame which are still there. In my case this was buildings, steps, handrails, shelters, some of the Victorian street lamps etc. If you can get these components right in the frame, then the rest will fall into place.
7 - ‘Grandure’ - 1871 & 2022. The Grand Hotel. It is interesting to imagine Kings Road pretty much empty of vehicles with a handful of horses trotting up and down.
8 - ‘West Street’ 1900 & 2022. Looking north up West Street from King’s Road, very few familiar buildings 100 years later. The Church survives, but George’s hotel is no longer the prominent corner property
So what is different?
Doing a project like this makes you realise how much visual noise there is in the world today. The roads a hundred years ago appear to be very generous, almost like they knew that they would need 4 car lanes in the future, but when it is occupied by a handful of horses the place looks empty. And then there are all of the other bits and pieces that occupy the pavements. Bus stops, traffic lights, signs, road markings, railings, tourism boards and the list goes on. Even though the roads were covered in dirt, the photos from 100 years seem cleaner. The Victorians seem well dressed, top hats, long dresses umbrellas used for shading or maybe it was just a part of the outfit. Either way, the black and white photos make them look smart in comparison to clothing nowadays.
9 - ‘Horse Lane’ - 1890 & 2022. King’s Road with The Old Ship Hotel on the left and looking towards Queens Hotel in the far background
10 - ‘Shelter’ - 1893 & 2022. Captured from the beach, this overlay shows the original Shelter Hall on the promenade, which has been rebuilt recently….in a very different position
How I edited the images
What made it easy to start with is that the scans were very close resolution to the photos that I captured on my digital camera. Therefore the size didn’t have to be altered too much to make them fit over one another. Next I started with the ‘now’ photo as the background image and I pasted the ‘then’ photo over the top. I could have used Photoshop’s auto align layers tool, however I dropped the opacity of the top layer and manually align them, rotating and occasionally distorting them to sit over one another perfectly. Next I started using layer masks to brush in areas of the ‘then’ photos that I wanted to appear in the scene. I found this to be easier for the viewer to understand by starting with a familiar colour scene and then adding the black and white (sepia in some cases). In some of the images I pasted in areas of the scene that were exactly the same, other times it was more interesting to show the contrast of a building that once stood there but has since been replaced. With further research I could find out if those buildings were damaged during the war or they were simply demolished. On some of the images I used elements in the frame to ‘cut’ to, such as a lamp post dividing the old and new. You may have to stare at the images for a while to see what I have done.
11 - ‘Beach Wars’ - 1944 & 2022. Image captured next to Queens Hotel, showing Brighton beach lined with barbed wire and concrete blocks, contrasting to the busy social scene in 2022.
12 - ‘Boat Yard’ - 1880 & 2022. The traditional boats and beach huts on wheels lined up along the promenade
13 - ‘The Queen’ - 1870 & 2022. Captured from King’s Road, the Queen’s Hotel remains very similar 100 years later, although the original backdrop was the chain link pier prior to the Palace Pier being constructed
14 - ‘The Aquarium’ - 1910 & 2022. Britain’s oldest aquarium can be found in Brighton, tucked under ground but the original entrance was a lot more extravagant than what can be found today
15 - ‘Sealife’ - 1904 & 2022. The Brighton Aquirium is also known as the Sealife Centre. Still attracting lots of tourists and a great day out if you ever visit Brighton
The reward
I have to say that I enjoy projects that revolve around architecture. It makes sense, I am an architect, and you can see that I get passionate when I combine my two artistic endeavours. But aside from whether I like the project, I think it is important. It has meaning. If you visits pubs, restaurants, churches etc around Brighton many of them have the ‘then’ photo of that building framed on the wall. To prove that it is one of the oldest pubs in Brighton.
In a hundred years time, these photos that I have taken might be a part of someone else’s project about Brighton. Reminiscing about when cars used roads, when cameras had buttons and you used to write blogs to share on social media.
Hopefully there will be a part 2 one day.
Thanks for reading.
Ben
