A few years back I started working on a coastal rephotographic project. The basic idea here is to use rephotographic methods and comparative historical photography as a way to explore and document the impacts of coastal erosion, sea level rise, and coastal adaptation in California. This idea draws inspiration primarily from Mark Klett’s 1977-1979 rephotographic survey project and the follow up ‘Third View’ project that included Byron Wolfe, Kyle Bajakian, Toshi Ueshina, and Michael Marshall. I’ll also be building upon similar local work up here on the Santa Cruz coast by Gary Griggs and Deepika Shrestha Ross.
I started working on this project in early to mid 2019. Long story short, this project had to be put on the back burner until now. A few things came up, including the Covid-19 pandemic, that made it necessary to put the whole thing on hold.
So I’m getting back to it. My plan is to use a few different sources for coastal images to relocate and rephotograph. The first source will be local library and university collections up and down the coast. There are so many images of the coast from the late 19th and early 20th centuries to draw from, and I’m looking forward to digging into those archives to see what I have to work with. The second source I have in mind is using a few images from well-known California photographers from the early to mid 20th century. I’m thinking of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, and others from the West Coast school of photography. Photographs like Brett Weston’s 1954 view of Garrapata Beach would be perfect to relocate and rephotograph.
The third and final source of photographs? Mine. Between about 1994 and 2004 I spent a lot of time photographing the California coast, mostly in San Diego and Monterey counties. I actually don’t know how much I have that I’d like to work with, but I’ve started looking through my old 35mm, 120, and 4x5 negatives and sorting through possibilities. One good one I’ve found is the 1998 image from Carlsbad, where I grew up. This one will be interesting to relocate and rephotograph to see comparative coastal change…but also because that old power plant is now gone.