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Repeat Photography: Methods and Applications in the Natural Sciences Robert H. Webb , Diane E. Boyer and Raymond M. Turner (eds), Island Press , Washington, DC , 2010 . 392 pp. Price USD $125.00 (cloth) ISBN 978 1 59726 712 0, USD $75 (paperback) ISBN 978 1 59726 713 7.

Repeat Photography: Methods and Applications in the Natural Sciences Robert H. Webb , Diane E.... This book is a comprehensive and fascinating survey of a sometimes under‐rated technique in assessing changes in the landscape – repeat photography – where multiple photographs are taken of the same place from the same vantage point over time. The technique was first developed in the 1880s to study changes in European glaciers and is now used to investigate a wide variety of research questions, with changes related to land‐use practices and climate change being particularly relevant in present times. The book has twenty‐three chapters written by different contributors worldwide and is organised into sections on the history of repeat photography, the techniques involved, and examples of its application in the geosciences, plant population ecology, ecosystem change and cultural change. A wide variety of examples are given, covering qualitative, semiquantitative and quantitative methods of analysing the photographs. As well as numerous black‐and‐white illustrations within the text of each chapter, there is a section of 32 pages of colour photographs pertaining to particular chapters. These illustrations indicate the often dramatic changes which can occur over time, although these are often ‘slower than the eye can see’ (D. Lewis, Chapter 15). After reading through all the chapters I was struck by the ingenuity and creativity of many of the analyses, both qualitative and quantitative, which utilised the data available in photographs taken on the ground along with additional data from the areas photographed, including on‐ground surveys and various other time series imagery including aerial photography and satellite imagery, plus data such as climate records and historical accounts to help interpret environmental changes. This demonstration of how photography can be combined with other techniques is a real strength of this book. Chapter 12, which describes a study in desert grassland vegetation in Arizona, compares, contrasts and combines some of these different data sources in a study of long‐term vegetation changes. Obviously a series of on‐ground photographs represents fairly ‘low‐tech’ data in itself, but I was surprised and intrigued by the ways in which scientists had extracted useful quantitative data from repeat photo series – for example, trends in plant populations over different habitats in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico and the United States (Chapter 10). When combined with other data repeat photographs can provide wide‐ranging insights into changes over time in ways that could not be achieved otherwise. An important strength here lies in the length of time into the past that many photo series can reach back to – nearly to the start of photography itself over 100 years ago – allowing ‘retrospective ground truthing’. Another strength of repeat photography lies in its cost‐effectiveness. This is especially valuable in situations where this is a priority and will be for the foreseeable future, such as in developing countries where climate change and changing land‐use patterns may be contributing to wide‐scale changes in the landscape, and where visual comparison of photographs can be the most effective way for people both managing and inhabiting the landscape to see that changes are occurring and to start to understand them. The book's editors are of the opinion that technological advances, for example in satellite imagery, will never replace the usefulness of repeat photography in landscape change studies, due both to the wide time span available and to the method's cost‐effectiveness. ‘An increasing importance for repeat photography is assured by the demands for analyses of recent and current trends of change that are inexpensive and rapid as well as locally precise, historically deep, and geographically broad’. (SH Bullock and RM Turner, Chapter 10, p. 130). Repeat photography can be a powerful educational and political tool in environmental decision‐making, to increase public awareness and community understanding of changes and the likely consequences of land‐use decisions, for example building new road infrastructure in Vermont, USA (Chapter 9) and understanding changes in stocking and grazing rates in South Africa (Chapter 5) – and in documenting the damage carried out by land‐uses in the past where managers new to the landscape may not realise the extent to which changes have occurred. In such cases, ‘before‐and‐after’ photo series can give an instant and powerful picture of the magnitude of change. For example, several years ago numerous series of before‐and‐after photographs taken by myself and other scientists graphically showed the extent of severe damage caused by feral rabbits to the landscape of World Heritage‐listed subantarctic Macquarie Island (Australia) and helped greatly to raise the awareness of managers, politicians and the general public which lead to instigation of a major feral pest eradication programme. ‘In addition to its scientific values, repeat photography has special power to make people immediately and intuitively understand the visual consequences of rapid environmental change’ (DB Fagre and LA McKeon, Chapter 7, p. 77). While photographic technologies have evolved, the basic techniques of repeat photography have remained unchanged. This does not lessen the value of the method, either used alone or in combination with other techniques, as the impressive number of different studies outlined in this book demonstrates. Review by Jenny Scott, School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia. Email: jenny.scott@utas.edu.au http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ecological Management & Restoration Wiley

Repeat Photography: Methods and Applications in the Natural Sciences Robert H. Webb , Diane E. Boyer and Raymond M. Turner (eds), Island Press , Washington, DC , 2010 . 392 pp. Price USD $125.00 (cloth) ISBN 978 1 59726 712 0, USD $75 (paperback) ISBN 978 1 59726 713 7.

Ecological Management & Restoration , Volume 14 (2) – May 1, 2013
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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2013 Ecological Society of Australia
ISSN
1442-7001
eISSN
1442-8903
DOI
10.1111/emr.12048
Publisher site
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Abstract

This book is a comprehensive and fascinating survey of a sometimes under‐rated technique in assessing changes in the landscape – repeat photography – where multiple photographs are taken of the same place from the same vantage point over time. The technique was first developed in the 1880s to study changes in European glaciers and is now used to investigate a wide variety of research questions, with changes related to land‐use practices and climate change being particularly relevant in present times. The book has twenty‐three chapters written by different contributors worldwide and is organised into sections on the history of repeat photography, the techniques involved, and examples of its application in the geosciences, plant population ecology, ecosystem change and cultural change. A wide variety of examples are given, covering qualitative, semiquantitative and quantitative methods of analysing the photographs. As well as numerous black‐and‐white illustrations within the text of each chapter, there is a section of 32 pages of colour photographs pertaining to particular chapters. These illustrations indicate the often dramatic changes which can occur over time, although these are often ‘slower than the eye can see’ (D. Lewis, Chapter 15). After reading through all the chapters I was struck by the ingenuity and creativity of many of the analyses, both qualitative and quantitative, which utilised the data available in photographs taken on the ground along with additional data from the areas photographed, including on‐ground surveys and various other time series imagery including aerial photography and satellite imagery, plus data such as climate records and historical accounts to help interpret environmental changes. This demonstration of how photography can be combined with other techniques is a real strength of this book. Chapter 12, which describes a study in desert grassland vegetation in Arizona, compares, contrasts and combines some of these different data sources in a study of long‐term vegetation changes. Obviously a series of on‐ground photographs represents fairly ‘low‐tech’ data in itself, but I was surprised and intrigued by the ways in which scientists had extracted useful quantitative data from repeat photo series – for example, trends in plant populations over different habitats in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico and the United States (Chapter 10). When combined with other data repeat photographs can provide wide‐ranging insights into changes over time in ways that could not be achieved otherwise. An important strength here lies in the length of time into the past that many photo series can reach back to – nearly to the start of photography itself over 100 years ago – allowing ‘retrospective ground truthing’. Another strength of repeat photography lies in its cost‐effectiveness. This is especially valuable in situations where this is a priority and will be for the foreseeable future, such as in developing countries where climate change and changing land‐use patterns may be contributing to wide‐scale changes in the landscape, and where visual comparison of photographs can be the most effective way for people both managing and inhabiting the landscape to see that changes are occurring and to start to understand them. The book's editors are of the opinion that technological advances, for example in satellite imagery, will never replace the usefulness of repeat photography in landscape change studies, due both to the wide time span available and to the method's cost‐effectiveness. ‘An increasing importance for repeat photography is assured by the demands for analyses of recent and current trends of change that are inexpensive and rapid as well as locally precise, historically deep, and geographically broad’. (SH Bullock and RM Turner, Chapter 10, p. 130). Repeat photography can be a powerful educational and political tool in environmental decision‐making, to increase public awareness and community understanding of changes and the likely consequences of land‐use decisions, for example building new road infrastructure in Vermont, USA (Chapter 9) and understanding changes in stocking and grazing rates in South Africa (Chapter 5) – and in documenting the damage carried out by land‐uses in the past where managers new to the landscape may not realise the extent to which changes have occurred. In such cases, ‘before‐and‐after’ photo series can give an instant and powerful picture of the magnitude of change. For example, several years ago numerous series of before‐and‐after photographs taken by myself and other scientists graphically showed the extent of severe damage caused by feral rabbits to the landscape of World Heritage‐listed subantarctic Macquarie Island (Australia) and helped greatly to raise the awareness of managers, politicians and the general public which lead to instigation of a major feral pest eradication programme. ‘In addition to its scientific values, repeat photography has special power to make people immediately and intuitively understand the visual consequences of rapid environmental change’ (DB Fagre and LA McKeon, Chapter 7, p. 77). While photographic technologies have evolved, the basic techniques of repeat photography have remained unchanged. This does not lessen the value of the method, either used alone or in combination with other techniques, as the impressive number of different studies outlined in this book demonstrates. Review by Jenny Scott, School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia. Email: jenny.scott@utas.edu.au

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Ecological Management & Restoration – Wiley

Published: May 1, 2013

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