Old is New Again

 

My concept for Old Is New Again combines the past and present. I used a photograph of a 400-year-old tree as the modern setting, incorporating contemporary elements like the bench, light posts, and houses. I then added Civil War-era images to imagine what this space may have looked like in the past, blending different moments in time through the collodion process.

Image Sources 

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/2013647554/resource/ 

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/2013647458/resource/ 

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/2012650262/resource/

Old Is New- Courtney Huston

 

My concept for Old Is New touches on a love for instrumentation and music passed down through generations in my family. I wanted to represent that connection by implementing my late grandmother's violin alongside the piano since playing it is a hobby of mine. I wanted to show how that love for music carried forward to the present through me.

Old is New Again - Joseph Bullock

 

My composition encapsulated a working family, the father doing dirty work in the rock crusher shaft while his daughter sweeps and cleans behind him. Using my friend in her oversized dress and headwear I had her in a sweeping motion to match the scenery that is in a flourishing shop outside of Staunton in 1944. The guy is at another day of work in the rock crusher shafts with a feeling of dreadfulness in being there, so I reflected that feeling with her emotion. Using gradient maps, clipping mask shadows, camera raw, brush strokes and smudging, it comes together as a wet plate collodian piece that was dropped to break the glass and have some leftover fingerprints.

Shenandoah Valley. Braden and Van Fossen Works, a flourishing shop outside of Staunton, which does such heavy work as machining different rock crusher shafts

Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.

Film copy on SIS roll 37, frame 199.

Old Is New Again - Catherine Kerns

 

I interpreted the "what is old is new" in reference to someone in my personal life - my dad. He personally will make it his mission (in my opinion) to bring up something or another related to his service in the Air Force into any family conversation. My concept was him being "stuck in the past", or to allude to such. 

I used the frame, texture, and cracks from the LOC, and the photo of the airplane in the hangar from OpenVerse (marked public domain).

Old is New Again - Ava Shuman

 

My concept for Old is New Again was to create a commentary on the way we perceive war in the present day. Many photographs from the civil war features deceased subjects, which is something I wanted to touch on with my project. Photographers may have taken so many photos of people's bodies because it was convenient at the time, but it shows the massive loss that wars bring. Nowadays, there are international wars happening around the globe, and yet we have less of an idea than ever how devastating these wars can be. Gruesome imagery is censored and journalists are silenced. Our first thought about that could be that the government is protecting its citizens from hysteria and the horrors of war, but a deeper look reveals the benefits of keeping the public out of the loop. I feel strongly that the government's idolatry of war aesthetics, mindsets, and morals is leading to normalization, starting the moment we are able to play with toy guns.

To express my thoughts through this project, I created a somewhat civil-war-esque outfit and made a portrait of myself. Rather than holding a rifle like many of the actual soldiers' portraits, I hold a plastic gun. War is only a game while we are young, until we are exposed to the reality of it and forced to cope with and accept war as we are expected to. I place a photo of a soldier and a child in the background to make the imagery of childishness more obvious.

Links:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.03792/?co=civwar
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.04743/?co=civwar
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.67835/?co=civwar
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.11700/

Old Is New Again - Ziah McDowell

 

Sunday's Best: Redefined

This piece explores how the outward appearance of faith can change over time while the meaning behind it can remain the same.Traditionally , "Sunday's best" was associated with dressing formally for church, so I intentionally photographed myself in a modern hoodie while holding a Bible. The casual clothing creates a contrast between present-day church culture and the more formal traditions of the past.

I placed myself in front of a historic church image from the library of congress. The church acts as the connection to the past , while the clothing shows the present. The contrast encourages the viewer to question whether Sunday's best is about the clothing someone wears or the intention they bring with them.

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20wi0119&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true

Old is New Again - Ryan Black

 

My concept was "digital museum." I love learning about history, but the 18th-20th centuries are my blind spot and in my opinion, there's no better way to learn about history than to go to a museum. To visualize this, I inserted a picture of myself in the setting as though I'm experiencing the moment with the featured individuals. I chose to wear clothing that deliberately contrasted with the others and I chose to depict myself looking down at my phone to convey that in no way am I able to interact with any of the men in the photo and that I'm a tourist to the time.

Library of Congress source.

Old is New Again - Chase Gibbs

 

 

My concept for Old is New was to show the two biggest stages in my musical journey. My younger self in the front is shown with a joyful expression, as I was just introduced to the world of music and its many capabilities. Children have such wild imaginations and endless creativity; there were no rules that guided my creation. As I am new and I'm free to create as much as I wish, there's a feeling of joy and curiosity. My young self takes old records stacked at the bottom and creates something new, something that is created without any restrictions. In my body language, I move and sway carefree, just like that music I make.

 My older self is shown still playing music, but there is a distinct difference in tone. That joy and curiosity are gone; at this stage, I have learned the rules that make up the music world, and it restricts me. My face is still, and my form is stiff. At this stage in my music journey, all I could focus on was the rules and playing exactly as instructed. There wasn't any room for interpretation and making music my own. 

Soured Imaged

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/ppprs/00600/00630v.jpg

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2026169089/resource/

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/ppmscd/07000/07057u.tif

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2026169079/resource/

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/ppmscd/07000/07046u.tif

Old is New Again - Jimmy Truong

 

    In this composite, I'm trying recapture my memory of learning to bike in Vietnam. I've only visited Vietnam about 4 times in my life so having a pivotal core memory of learning to ride a bike creates a sentimental bridge between the two things. In a way, it also connects me with my family since most of them are from or living in Vietnam. 

    For the photo, I used a street photo of Hanoi with a clear view of the Vietnamese flag and then I added the biker and tricycle to emphasize maturity and difference in level of biking. The modern aspect of the motorcycle brings us to the present while contrasting with the older elements of a wet plate collodion. For the frame, I utilized the edges from multiple pictures from the Library of Congress.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/street-vendor-in-hanoi-alley-with-vietnamese-flags-34124512/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-a-person-riding-a-bicycle-10569410/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-red-childrens-bike-by-a-road-5012902/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018670507/
https://www.loc.gov/item/2018666343/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-grey-illustration-3377414/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-gray-surface-3377405/

Old is New Again - Samantha Padro

              My concept is the difference between livelihoods and generations. I used a photograph of my abuela sitting holding some mangos she grew and plans to sell. One of the ways she made a living back then was growing her own fruit and selling them. She was very proud of herself in this picture. I am standing beside her holding a grocery bag of fruit with some mangos in my arm. The grocery bag and mangos show a difference between our experiences and class. I have the privilege and easy access of simply going to the supermarket and buying them. I blurred myself a bit to represent a sense of disconnect between us, as well as wearing headphones, nice shoes, a labubu. Through the contrast between our different experiences, her labor and my access to convenience, I wanted to show the generational disconnect and the privilege of taking something so readily available for granted. 

Link:

Peon couple 

Old Is New Again - Jose Canas Vargas

 

 

Through this work, I wanted to show a portal into the spiritual world.

When I think of Lani, I always see her as a spiritual warrior, a woman ready for battle no matter the circumstances. When I first met Lani, I occasionally captured glimpses of her spirit self: a woman with strong arms and a big build. While contemplating the concept, I initially sought to photograph her as an African American boxer from the Civil War. This changed when the photo became much more intimate.

Indications of documentary photography are key in the photograph, capturing Lani as she puts on her gloves, with her gaze away from the viewer, announcing her ferocity for battle and the energy culminating around her, warning any suitors of her strength. This project is intended to acknowledge the spiritual side of the physical world; many grow blind to spiritual implications, and I seek to bring invisible realities into the visual. Showcasing Lani's strength through her portrait was my goal.

Ephesians 6:12

I used this Photograph from the Library of Congress 

[Unidentified Union soldier in frock coat, private, kepi, 3rd-5th buttons open on coat] https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96510913/

  

Old is New Again - Estera Rasek

 

 

 

My idea was to show how the sources we use to satisfy our thirst have changed over the years. I wanted to create an ironic photo by placing a modern, unhealthy energy drink in a setting that shows a more traditional way of living. I’m holding the energy drink while a natural well and a cow providing fresh milk can be seen behind me. The can is also the sharpest element in the photograph, which helps draw the viewer’s attention to it.

I wanted my appearance to represent a woman from the past and connect the photograph to my Polish and Slavic background. That’s why I wore a simple dress, braided my hair into two braids and stood barefoot. In the background, I used a Polish windmill from the Library of Congress as another cultural element.

I also tried to follow the Rule of Thirds when creating the composition. Overall, this work is meant to be a form of social commentary on our modern lifestyle. By contrasting natural sources of food and drink with an unhealthy energy drink, I wanted to encourage the viewer to think about their choices and consider a more natural way of living.

 

Links: 
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/matpc/item/2019711431/ (cow)
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017677220/ (windmill)
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012646920/ (scratch) 

Old is New - Sage Lewis

My idea was to specifically do a wet plate collodion portrait of my mother and me, the past and the present. I wanted it to look as if we were the same person but noticeably different. I based this off of how often people have confused me for her before. I constantly strive to be like her, as she's my biggest role model, and her influence is why I took my academics seriously and learned to pursue success. Back during the 1900's Black Americans could rarely attend college, let alone black women. My mother would actually graduated from college when she was pregnant with me at 37. Now I am a college junior because I started college classes at 17, an entire 2 decades younger. For the 2 of us to be able to 


She's been my biggest cheerleader, and I feel proud to look so much like one of the people I love so much.

Links:

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/anedub/item/00651764/ 

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017896046/

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95507126/

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/gld/item/2010647770/

Old is New Again - Noelle Greene

 

My concept is based around how these old photographs inherently stand as very static and unchanging captures of a person's entire identity. Given how infrequent these would be, many of these old photos serve to create one singular vision of how these people look when the truth is that an entire person can't be distilled into one image. I wanted to capture this through the slow shutter speed method and essentially obscure my own face, figure, and identity to create a more dynamic and hard to pin down identity. In a way, this feels inherently personal in that I am constantly changing from one moment to the next and given how long these photos would take, I've tightened this sense of change by implying that so much change is happening over the course of a short period.

I used the border from an old photograph off the library of congress:

https://www.loc.gov/item/vt0145/

As well as several textures I overlayed:

https://jooinn.com/img/get

https://www.needpix.com/photo/1479118/grunge-texture-grungetexture-wall-antique-vintage-retro-old-damaged

https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1100381

Old is New Again - Wrapping Technology in Collodion_Kyiah Vann

Old Is New Again 

For this work, I developed a concept that relied on a sense of irony. I used a picture of myself when I was a flower girl at six years old, and added an iPad to connect the past and present. I wanted to explore the friction between new-age digital dependency and historical permanence by creating an anachronistic contrast between the birth of photography and the height of the digital age. This project comments on how quickly our tools for capturing reality have evolved by rendering a modern memory through the lens of the historical collodion process. 

I utilized two images from The Library of Congress for the background and chair, removing the subjects from each photo and scaling them up for the composition. I blurred these images since they are farther away from the camera. 

Old is New Again - Cami Smith

For this project, I sought to comment on interracial marriage. As the wet plates I sourced from were primarily from World War I, I thought it was fitting that the war was one of the elements that made interracial marriage possible. This photograph was taken by me, with my husband and myself as the subjects. We got married this past summer, and I used my actual wedding dress as the wardrobe for me. This brought a contemporary element into the work. My husband wore a plain suit that could fit into any timeframe. During World War I and for a decent time afterwards, relationships between black and white Americans were not only frowned upon, but could lead to the death of those involved. It is baffling to consider how close in time that cultural norm was. Overall, this work reminds the viewer of that fact and further drives the point home with scratches across the piece, most prominently right between the subjects. A scratch also runs across the face of the man to emphasize the fact that he would be more likely to suffer consequences of an interracial relationship, simply due to his race. 

I sourced pieces from a few images.

The background came from this source: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/item/2018667369/

The large scratch across the image comes from this source: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018666106/

The curtain in the background comes from this source: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017893758/

 

Old is new again - Eli Lo

 

In this project, I attempted to turn this cannon in downtown Concord into a Civil War-style wet plate. Although the cannon was dated to be used during WW1, I saw that it was fitting for this assignment. I wanted a Civil War-era man posing in front of the cannon to give the sense that he had shot this cannon before it was placed there as a memorial. 

For this, I photographed the cannon and took a photo from the Library of Congress of a man standing next to a larger cannon.

Link to image: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/2012646729/

Old is New Again_Emily Farlow

The concept for my Digital Wet Plate came from seeing a photo of my late Paw-Paw. He didn't smile much in photos, but he did for this one because I was holding the camera. Paw-Paw was drafted in 1944. He was stationed in Kassel, Germany, and Belgium; he could have gone to Switzerland, but took the opportunity to come home instead. I was thinking about how Paw-Paw took off his military hat for his family hat, which is symbolized by the Mickey Mouse Santa Hat he's wearing.

I took the background, chair, and distressed elements from The Library of Congress photo gallery and placed Paw-Paw's army photo in a frame beside him. I experimented with the generative expand tool to create a table for his picture.

Final Portfolio - Megan

 

This portfolio is basically a love letter to the dogs in my life and the chaotic joy they bring. Inspired by Ron Schmidt’s Loose Leashes series, I created playful, character-driven composites that turn everyday pets into humorous little story moments. My goal was to keep the work light, fun, and personality-forward while building a cohesive set of images that feel like they belong to the same quirky world. Overall, this project let me imagine what life would look like if the dogs really were in charge, and honestly, they kind of are.

Seasonal Staff

Original Dog Image Nava, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Name Tag: Photo by cottonbro studio, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-wearing-a-blazer-with-a-name-tag-7339621/
Christmas Background: Photo by Any Lane, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/smiling-black-woman-choosing-christmas-decorations-in-store-5728308/

Retail Counter: Photo by cottonbro studio, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/elegant-man-in-store-at-christmas-time-6127627/

Christmas Trees: Created using Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill (2025)

Boo Buddies

Original Dog Image Beau, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Human Ghost Reference: Photo by Harrison Haines, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-in-ghost-costume-walking-on-foggy-road-9802272/

Spooky Forest Background: Photo by Luca Dross, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/dry-leafless-trees-in-foggy-woodland-5976404/
Background expanded using Photoshop GenAI
Keep Out Sign: Photo by Aedrian Salazar, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-keep-out-sign-in-a-forest-11184986/

Sheet Edge Repairs
Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill (2025)

Bloom & Zoom

Original Dog Image Remi: photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)

Sunflower Background: Photo by Mariana, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-holding-sunflower-3115800/

Howdy Pawsner

Original Dog Image Nava, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)

Boots: Photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Cigarette: Photo by Rattanakun thongbun, Vecteezy - https://www.vecteezy.com/photo/11345398-close-up-of-smoking-cigarettes-in-hand-smoke-spread-with-a-soft-focus

Background Plate of Bones + Cup: Created using Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill (2025)

Paw-llege Graduate

Dog Body — Photo by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)

Dog Head — Photo by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)

Grad Cap — Photo by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Commencement Background: Photo by UNCC Commencement Photographer - Spring 2025 Friday PM Commencement - https://www.photos.charlotte.edu/Commencement-2025-Spring/2025-Fri-pm/i-Pzv7wWZ/A

Life of the Paw-ty

Original Dog Image Nava, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Background Balloons: Photo by Skylight Views, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/adorable-baby-birthday-celebration-with-balloons-33359532/
Cake: Photo by Bigmass Media and Printing, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/colorful-first-birthday-celebration-with-cake-35072964/

Fairy Tails

Original Dog Image Fae, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)
Mushrooms: Photo by juv, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/dry-leafless-trees-in-foggy-woodland-5976404/
Background expanded with GenAI
Butterfly: Photo by Lê Đức Khánh, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-blue-tiger-butterfly-on-leaf-34196463/
Fairy Wings & Mushroom House Enhancements: Created using Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill (2025)

The Regal Beagle

Original Dog Image: Remi, photographed by Megan Cluck (Charlotte, NC, 2025)

Crown: Photo by Sami Aksu, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/funny-picture-of-a-cat-in-a-crown-sitting-next-to-a-candle-14356302/

Throne Chair Base Image: Photo by Michael Fried, Pexels - https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-woman-posing-on-a-blue-armchair-13448879/

Sheet Edges Repaired: Photoshop Generative Fill (2025)