Bergen Then and Now

This is a story about trees. It is a look at how Bergen, Norway has worked to reforest the community. But trees grow slowly, so what’s the best way to show changes over time? Through archive photographs.

To understand the transformation, it helps to visualize the passage of time, comparing an image from the past to a contemporary view, compressing decades to mere moments. Linking what “was” to what “is” lets you immediately understand what has changed, what has been lost and what remains the same.

Bergen Kommune has curated a rich public repository of photographs, many dating to the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. These thousands of images present a window into where the community has been. Through this lens of the past, we can view what we have lost with an eye to what we may lose in the future.

It has been a labor of love, with hours spent wandering the city trying to find the exact location where the original photographer set up his camera. I have done my best to be accurate, but there are times where the landmarks are missing, or through reforestation, are now hidden.

I love old photos, they open moments of time that give us insight into life long ago. If you are like me, and you love to see what was, take some time to dig through the archive. It is simply magical.

Bergen fotoarkiv – Bergen Kommune
https://www.bergen.kommune.no/hvaskje...

Music by Epidemic Sound
Train Ride - Alex Kehm
Intimacy - Alex Kehm
Thoughts in the Rain - Elm Lake
Little Lucifer - Mattias Tell
Not Blue - Kylie Dailey