Photo Friday: Then and Now - The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

A while back I had a long conversation with a friend about photography, art, and photoshop. He didn't understand how photography could be considered art, especially when you manipulate the images within photo editing software. Well my friend, this is where photoshop meets art.

These images, masterfully combined, by Shawn Clover that I found here are absolutely how you create art with photoshop. Clover merged vintage images from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with present day images of the same locations. Now, this isn't a new concept. In fact, I featured a similar play with new and old images here. However, it's the way that he combines these photos that really got me. I love how Clover almost painted in the old image over the new landscape so that the edges fade and you're not looking at a square cut-out but a fluid piece. It took me a second for some of these to even realize that they were two separate photos. Some just look like portions were colored in black and white.

What do you think? Cleverly cool or over done?