Artist Intervention:Apparitions

Certain observers believe that all photographs are in some manner about time. Images such as Harold Edgerton's one-millionth-of-a-second capture of a speeding bullet or Michael Wesley's three-year-long exposures of the construction of New York's Museum of Modern Art wear time on their sleeves. Others treat time as a much more subtle subtext.Apparitionsis clearly about the changes that time brings. It reflects my love of architecture, fascination with cities, and enthusiasm for being an urban detective. The series also is motivated by my desire to employ an unusual artistic form to show change, that of combining “then” and “now” in a single image. Researching and shooting in more than sixty cities has been akin to gathering the raw materials of the work. Combining them on the computer creates the final imagery. Current technology allows me to manifest long-held mental images of this work that were impractical to create prior to the digital age. The content ofApparitionsseeks to generate discussion about the built environment, including the value of what I call “The Preservation of Memory,” visuals that return us to forgotten past places. T. John Hughes is a photographer based in Denver, Colorado. He has a master's in digital photography from Savannah College of Art and Design and teaches architectural photography at the University of Colorado Graduate School of Architecture and Planning.