Evaluating Repeat Photography in Documenting Natural and Cultural Landscape Changes: a Changing Crown of the Continent Ecosystem between 1899 and 2010
Photography can be an invaluable tool in human geographical research, for example, to better understand the importance of place to people. Increasingly, geographers are looking at how photography can play an active role in the construction of geographical knowledge, that is, how photographs are seen rather than what they show. This study examines the use of repeat photography as a research method by conducting a case study on landscape change in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. Grounded in extensive archival research on the past, present, and future uses of photography as a research method, a repeat photography survey was conducted in order to interpret natural and cultural landscape changes over time. The study involves three sets of photographs ranging from 1870 to 2010. However, this study is not just about documenting change, it is about analyzing perceptions of wilderness through photography. The original photographs in the study were taken during the earliest days of photography, a period in which the US Congress sent photographers out to record the West. Followed by a time when forestry and conservation started taking on new meanings with the policies of the first United States Forest Service Chief, Gifford Pinchot. This study investigates the role of photography in shaping the landscape of the West by taking a contemporary look at the study area through the repeat photographic survey conducted.
Crown of the Continent, Environmental Perceptions, Montana Geography, Photographic Interpretation, Repeat Photography
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