Reminiscing Becomes Vital As One Ages

"I just wanted to see what my grandmother saw when she looked at the Grand Canyon," remembers Allen Dutton, a 78-year-old photographer whose work is on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., now through Nov. 13. Family legend had it that Dutton's grandmother was the first Anglo woman ever to see the Grand Canyon. And Dutton had an 1883 picture of her at the Canyon to help lead him in search for her view.

Dutton started serious photography after an early retirement as an Arizona art teacher. He scoured collections of Arizona historical photographs, looking for recognizable views. He traveled to the same location from which the early photographer had captured the images and made new pictures as close as possible in angle, perspective and orientation to the earlier views. Dutton then paired these old scenes with his own "re-photographed" images.

Paul Roth and I discuss Dutton's work on "Maturity," an Alexandria cable (COMCAST Channel 10) television show which airs on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, Oct. 31, Nov. 7, and Nov. 14. Roth, a native Arizonan and assistant photographic curator at the Corcoran, authored the catalogue essay accompanying the Dutton exhibit. The show is a pleasure to see, combining time-travel with a sense of humor.

What intrigues me about Dutton's work is its unique take on the reminiscing we all do increasingly as we age. Psychologist tell us that "life review" is important to a vital old age. Erick Erickson posits that the psychological task of the old is to achieve "integrity" and not sink into "despair," to review your life and conclude that you did the best you could and that your best was good, to forgive your parents' many mistakes because you recognize now how hard their job was and to forgive yourself for not meeting your childhood dreams.

Dutton's life review uses his historical images and re-photographs as a visual cue. He re-photographs views that hold personal meaning for him - Arizona towns of his ancestors, his childhood neighborhoods. And what keeps him going approximately 10 hours a day for 150 days a year is his desire to leave a visual record of the Arizona he loves for future generations.

As Dutton told me, "maybe 100 years from now, people won't know what golf carts are. Retirement is a whole new industry in Arizona and no one can say for sure that Sun Lakes (a retirement community ) will flourish or become a ghost gown. And without someone to record what Sun Lakes looks like today, perhaps no one tomorrow will ever know what is was like."

Dutton's visual juxtaposition of historical and modern views makes me ponder time. It's as if you can see time and its passage. I reminisce about how my life, as well as my views, have been affected by time. And I wonder what the future will bring.