Rephotographic

Impressions from the Past....continued

      Peihl says the distinct change caused by the rural to urban shift influenced not only the architecture but also the way people responded to each other. He refers to diaries that document stories about people sitting on their front porch as passersby stopped, sometimes for several hours, just to chat. This shift in society led to a more secluded society where decks were built in back yards and porches were enclosed.
      Many years after Flaten captured his last image, Mittleider, a young woman with an interest in history and an appreciation of the people of Flaten’s time, was encouraged to re-photograph a few places that Flaten had photographed. Mittleider decided to make this her project for a documentary photography class. She set out to capture the differences and the similarities of the two distinctly different time periods in Moorhead.
     The dramatic change in both architecture and landscape makes it difficult for people to believe the images Mittleider took were actually shot from the exact location as Flaten’s images. Gasoline powered cars have replaced horse drawn wagons, plain brick buildings reside in places where buildings with ornate carvings and glass work once stood, overpasses exist where business-filled streets once stood, and whistles from docking steamboats no longer echo through the town.
     Mittleider hoped her project would capture attitude changes in addition to the visual changes in Moorhead. Peihl and Mittleider can both tell stories of the differences in Flaten’s experience as a documentary photographer and those of Mittleider. While Mittleider received odd looks from people thinking she had lost her mind, Flaten enjoyed the closeness of a small community where passersby visited or had their portrait taken.
     Times have changed, but because of area photographers such as Mittleider, who are dedicated to photographing and re-photographing the area, we become more aware of what changes have taken place and we better understand the past.
     In addition to Mittleider’s work, other photographers have also re-photographed Moorhead and surrounding towns.

A collection of these photographs can be found on the Clay County Historical Society Web site at:
http://www.info.co.clay.mn.us/History

O.E. Flaten's photograph's, courtesy of the Clay County Historical Society, Moorhead, Minnesota