The Images | 15 Facts About George | Watch The Videos

There are three videos, including a trailer, the short film and an in-depth behind the scenes video.

Why does this project exist?

George Brainerd (1845-1887) was a very accomplished professional in early photography and other fields, and if you search for his name on Google you'll notice that his contributions have been forgotten.

After seeing several articles around the web showing New York photographs comparing the 1960s to 2013, I asked myself: "Instead of going back 50 years, what if we could compare today to the earliest surviving photos?"

It's a personal project for me. There are no sponsors. I'm not doing this for a class, organization or anything similar. This project gave me a reason to go out on my bike on weekend mornings for almost a year to shoot photographs, many times returning to the same spots over and over to do reshoots if I wasn't satisfied with previous results. I also frequently visited the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library to do research.

After spending more than four wonderful years in New York where I met the love of my life, we moved away for a life in sunny San Diego. And I want to give something back to the city that has given so much to me.

The short film:

All of George Bradford Brainerd's images can be viewed in their full sizes on the Brooklyn Museum website. Special thanks to the Brooklyn Public Library, Tracie Davis and others with the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Public Library, composer Adi Goldstein and Julie C. Moffat for their contributions to this project. Credit for the image at the very top of this page goes to George Bradford Brainerd.