The Perils of Now

Seán and I made a point to be faithful to recreating our "Then" photos – mainly this meant one of us (read: not me) doing tons of historical legwork, finding modern-day locations of ancient buildings now all but unrecognizable, thanks to the ravages of time, economy and in some cases plain bad taste.

Occasionally it meant risking life and limb to get the photo just right.

This was on the first day of the project. Seán and I had met over coffee and swore a blood oath that we'd compose every "Now" photo exactly as the "Then" photo. We even got "Historically Accurate Photographer Lyfe" tattooed on our lower abdomens, a la Tupac Shakur. We were serious about getting the shot right the first time.

And then we went to Chicken Neck Hill and almost got destroyed by oncoming traffic.

How To Be Historically Accurate Photographers
(1) Find the location (note: not as easy as it sounds)
(2) Have Seán stand watch in the middle of a busy four-lane road on a blind turn, while
(3) You stand about 50 yards away, camera in hand
(4) He screams "It's good!" which means nobody's flying around the bend
(5) You jump out in the road, take a quick picture, and then
(6) Run back to the safety of the sidewalk as fourteen pickup trucks recreate "Talledega Nights" on National Road
(7) Confer with the 3-inch LCD on the back of the camera, compare that to a full-size photocopy of the "Then" photo

(8) Shake your head. (Extra credit: mutter "Geez, I don't know ... that's so small ... maybe we got it ... are you sure you know how to use a camera?")
(8) Decide you got the angle wrong, so do it all again.

(9) Months later, decide not to use that photo at all.

Repeat this about 20 times and you have successfully Brought History Alive™ without needing your health insurance card, or explaining yourself to a Wheeling police officer.

Web-exclusive History!