Someone is juxtaposing old and new photos of Toronto
Toronto-based photographer Andriy Koval has been taking photos of the city for a year now, but he eventually started to feel bored and uninspired.
“I had this kind of creative block," he said. "Everything was so boring and I didn’t want to take pictures anymore. I got so bored of it that I stopped doing it for a while.”
He said it wasn't until he discovered a huge collection of old photos in Toronto’s photo archives that he felt inspired once again.
Koval decided to go out and take pictures of the exact same spots in the photos to show how the city has changed over the years.
"I spend a lot of time...walking around the city to find the places from old photos and try to match them as close as possible," he wrote on Reddit.
Koval said because the old photos aren't digital, he has to spend time trying to match them and guess what kind of a camera lenses and angles were used.
"I'm trying to make it as close as possible so I can just overlay them beautifully,” he said.
Koval has been posting the old and new photos on his Instagram account with the hashtag #OldNewTO.
So far there are about 16 before-and-after shots on his page, although he said he's taken close to 30.
The before shots range from as early as 1910 all the way to the 80s.
Koval said the project has helped him develop a new appreciation for the city, and it's helped him learn many street names too.
He said the reception he's received since sharing the photos has been better than he could have expected.
While some people tell him they can't believe how much the city has changed, others say it feels more modern but still has the same vibe.
Koval added that he has no plans to stop the project any time soon.
"It’s an ongoing thing. I'll probably stop at some point but I want to cover as much as possible," he said, adding that he's pretty limited to the downtown core because when you start to venture out, you often quickly find out there was nothing there just decades ago.
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