Then and Now

This was such a great idea I tried it myself in 2011. The concept is to take an old photograph and return it to the location in which it was taken. You then position the old photo in your view to the exact spot where it was originally snapped and then take a new picture. The old photo then appears with a modern background behind it.

This great old black & white photograph was taken by my uncle Richard Scaling. He was a amateur photographer that spent his career in the Air Force as a pilot. He had his own dark room and would develop his own work including this photo.

The subjects in the photo are myself at around age ten or eleven, my sister, my mom and my grandmother. It was summer in the early 70′s. We were posing on the porch of my great-grandmothers Ethel Valentine Erwin’s home on S. Johnson in Enid, Oklahoma. At the time, my sister, my mom and I lived in the house directly across the street which allowed for our great-grandmother to keep an eye on us.

My great-grandmother eventually passed away and my grandmother, in the photo, moved into the home. She became a borderline hoarder and lived there until she passed away in the house. Ownership of the home went to my mother and my uncle.

While grandmother was living there, my mom purchased the home directly next door to this address and was living there. My uncle Richard had purchased the home directly behind my mom on the other side of the same block. They split rent on the home until he passed away one day without warning. My mother then became sole owner of the home.

My family has owned this home longer than I’ve been alive. I remember being dropped off as a young tyke so that my great-grandmother could watch me when my mom and sister were busy. She taught me how to play domino’s and canasta. I never remember her letting me win.

There was a special cabinet in the living room that had all of the things we could play with when we would go to visit. My favorite thing was a set of black and white Yorkie dogs that had magnets attached to their feet. I would play with those magnets for what seemed like hours. There was also a set of Pick Up Stix, marbles, cards and other games.

My great-grandmother always kept the house and yard immaculate. She was so tidy that she would trim grass with scissors if a blade or two were sticking out after the lawn guy left. She also had one of those plastic runners on the carpet to keep our shoes from getting the carpet dirty.

This was the home that we gathered at for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners every year. Great-grandmother would cook the turkey and many of the other things. This was the house that had the proverbial card table that my sister and I had to sit at when we had too many adults.

I remember there was a neat little strawberry patch in the backyard. It also had a cool old wooden boat of my uncles that sat in the driveway for years. This is a great old house with a large front porch full of family memories.

The modern photo background was taken in the summer of 2011. The irony of this photo is that after the passing of my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my uncle and my mother, I now own this family home as of 2022.