Photographic déjà vu

Already seen, already photographed. I sometimes hear the argument that everything has been photographed. Why would you then take a picture of the same scene, building, flower, bug - or even person - which has already been photographed a million times before? To see how it looks when you click the shutter yourself I guess.

Sometimes you know that not only has a similar photograph been taken before by many others, but you have taken it yourself at least once. This is often the case with scenes close to home or your favourite destination, even more so with pets and portraits of family members. Sometimes it's however something mundane far away from home, like this scene in Rethymnon, Crete, which I photographed twice. I have to admit the second image was simply a snap that I quickly took, when witnessing a moment of photographic déjà vu.

Rethymnon, Crete, 2008 - Canon EOS-30D, 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 100

Rethymnon, Crete, 2010 - Leica M8, 1/250, ISO 160

The lens on the Canon 30D was the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. On M8, I believe it was the Voigtländer 35/1.4 Nokton SC. Note the difference in quality of light. Neither is excellent, but the difference is huge. The photo from 2008 was taken in late morning light, the photo from 2010 in the middle of the day beneath the hot Mediterranean sun.