Historical photographs website gets Awesome Ottawa cash injection
By Natascia Lypny, OTTAWA CITIZEN August 15, 2013 10:02 AM
OTTAWA — A website comparing photographs from Ottawa’s yesteryear and yesterday is Awesome Ottawa’s pick for a $1,000 grant this month.
Ottawa Past & Present juxtaposes historic photographs of the capital with newly taken snapshots posed at the same spot and angle of their older counterparts, courtesy of urbanism lover Alexandre Laquerre.
“I thought it would be interesting to show people what was there before, because I’m not sure if people really question what was there,” said Laquerre, adding that he wants his website to make people question whether Ottawa’s urban development since the Second World War has been positive or negative.
The website, created by the nanotechnology engineer in October, has since accumulated more than 300 photographic comparisons.
“I’ve spent a lot of time living in the city and looking at Alex’s pictures, and Alex’s site makes me think about the city in a totally different way,” said Avi Caplan, one of Awesome Ottawa’s award decision-makers.
The $1,000 will cover City of Ottawa Archives fees and part of the cost of a tilt-shift lens, which will help Laquerre take photographs whose composition more precisely matches their predecessors’.
Awesome Ottawa is a collective of 10 individuals who fund and select one local, innovative project every month.
You can check out Laquerre’s photographs at
www.pastottawa.com.
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