Vintage photos take a second turn in front of the lens

Jason Powell’s photographs-within-photographs bring D.C.’s past to the present.

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Photographer Jason Powell holds up a photo he discovered in the Library of Congress's online archive near the steps of the Capitol, where the photo was taken.

Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post

Powell’s photo-within-a-photo technique allows visitors to his site, “Looking Into the Past,” to see D.C. as it once was, and as it is now.

Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post

Andrew J. Russell photographed the Capitol building under construction in 1863. Jason Powell photographed the Capitol Building in conjunction with the archival image.

Jason Powell / Original photo by Andrew J. Russell/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; 2009 photo by Jason Powell

Powell is a Civil War history buff, and he’s visiting the sites in antique photos of battlefields for his photo series. Here, he reinterprets an 1865 view of Harper’s Ferry.

Jason Powell / Original photo by James Gardner/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division, 2010 photo by Jason Powell

When Powell searches the Library of Congress archives, he looks for images with a modern-day anchor and a little bit of intrigue, like this image of a woman applying lipstick near Union Station.

Jason Powell

“I’m the type of person who would walk down the street and wonder what it was like 100 years ago,” Powell says. “This is how I do it.”

Jason Powell / Original photo from Harris & Ewing/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division/2009 photo by Jason Powell

Powell went to Union Station to photograph this 1921 image of Miss Atlantic City, Miss Philadelphia, and Miss Washington.

Jason Powell / Original photo from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: 2010 photo by Jason Powell

Powell is often surprised by what the old buildings of the photos house in the present-day. Here, the Mary Surratt boarding house — owned by the first woman executed by the United States for her role in Lincoln’s assassination — has become a Chinese restaurant named "Wok n Roll."

Jason Powell / Original photo from Brady-Handy Collection/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division/2010 photo by Jason Powell

Powell says that this photograph of the congressional hog caller is among his favorites. In the original photo, Rep. Robert L. Mouton, of Louisiana, trains for his hog calling contest with Rep. Otha D. Wearin, of Iowa.

Jason Powell

In this original Library of Congress photo, flappers demonstrate the Charleston to Rep. T.S. McMillan of Charleston, S.C. at the Cannon House Office Building.

Jason Powell

Powell’s style of photography has encouraged imitation and collaboration in his Flickr pool. Local photographer Ivan Sciupac photographed an image of himself as a child at the Lincoln Memorial 28 years later.

Ivan Sciupac

Ivan Sciupac has found old photos from childhood trips to D.C. for his own photo-within-a-photo series. Here, he photographs an old image of skateboarders at the Dupont Fountain.

Ivan Sciupac

Powell says that he is always disappointed to see a beautiful old building replaced by a generic office building, like these buildings around the past and present Ford’s Theatre.

Jason Powell / Original photo attributed to Mathew B. Brady, Brady- Handy Collection/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: 2011 photo by Jason Powell

In this vintage photograph, a delegation of girls representing California's cornucopia poses on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The original was taken in 1939.

Jason Powell

Powell revisits the California cornucopia girls by photographing the image of them from the same vantage point of their original photographer. He is working on a book of historic then-and-now images of D.C.

Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post

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