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Repeat Landscape Photography, Historical Ecology and the Wonder of Digital Archives in Southern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Samantha L. Scott ,
Rick Rohde  and
Timm Hoffman
Samantha L. Scott
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Rick Rohde
Affiliation:
Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Timm Hoffman
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Extract

Environmental history projects using repeat photography often involve the acquisition of large collections of historical and current images, matching those images for comparative analysis, and then cataloguing and archiving the imagery for long-term storage and later use (Webb et ah, 2010). When used in combination with other techniques, repeat photography is an excellent tool for documenting change (Gruell, 2010) and has been used in a variety of disciplines, including historical ecology, to determine changes in plant populations, soil erosion, climate trends and ecological processes to name a few. Historical photographs often provide greater temporal range to an analysis compared to, for example, satellite imagery and in many cases even aerial photography (Gruell, 2010).

Type
Research Article
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 131: Papers from SCOLMA Conference 2017: Document to Digital: How does digitalisation aid African research?, National Library of Scotland, 11 September, 2017 , 2017 , pp. 35 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2017

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