New long term photography project: TimeFade — prints and animations documenting alpine places and their changes over decades or a century.
First places completed:
001 - Breslauer Hütte and the glaciers of the Gurgler Range. Two images from the same location, separated by 103 years: 1923 and 2026.
002 - https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/116869058551687521
The hut was built in 1882 and has undergone several restorations and extensions. The major peaks from left to right: Großer Ramolkogel, Hinterer Spiegelkogel, Firmisanschneide, Schalfkogel, all between 3400-3550m
The shrinkage of the glaciers in this view might seem rather small for a time span of a century, but it's worth remembering that most of the volume losses have only been during the past 25-50 years and the melting process itself is exponential and accelerating... Secondly, for a size/scale reference: On the rightmost glacier (Diem-Ferner), the elevation difference between the top edge of the side moraine and the glacier creek is now >100 meters (more than a 30 storey building)...
It might only be two photos (some more are already in progress), but production involved several weeks of library research (see below) of suitable locations and images, feasibility studies on old & current maps trying to determine photo spots, lenses and viewing angles from where the original pictures were taken, travel and hiking logistics, then taking dozens of photos from different candidate points in situ. Back home after the shoot: Testing different candidate images for best match/alignment potential, tweaking and fine tuning their perspectives, video editing...
Image credits:
The 1923 photograph (author unknown) is from the AKON vintage postcard collection of the Österreichische National Bibliothek: https://akon.onb.ac.at/#id=AKON_AK097_437
The 2026 photograph is by me, taken 24/06/2026 (for future reference)
More about the larger project in the thread below...
#TimeFade #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Art #History #Alps #Mountains #Urbanism #Environment #ClimateChange
