Direct Comparison is a collaborative photographic project revisiting a concept first developed in 1976 by LA based photographer Stephen Berens. The process is precise and conceptually layered: a photograph is taken of a location, printed, laminated, and returned to that same site — where it is photographed again from nearly the same vantage point, roughly seven to eight feet from where the image is mounted. At this distance, the original photograph remains legible within the new image, and anyone encountering the work in person can experience the quiet resonance of standing before a scene while simultaneously viewing its past.
The title speaks to this layered act of looking — comparing photograph to landscape, past to present, and the two images to one another. The result is a meditation on time, place, and the nature of photographic memory.
This project exists through collaboration. Contributors are invited by Stephen Berens to produce between two and ten sets of images, with prints of their work gifted to him at the close of the project. I am among the collaborators and my contribution brings the work to Abu Dhabi — images captured there were shared with Stephen, and exhibited across his Website, Facebook, and Instagram, extending the project’s reach into new landscapes and communities.