A wintery landscape of the American Falls at Niagara, with a black-and-white photograph of half the Falls on the left side and a colour photo of the other half on the right.

ONLINE EXHIBIT: The Niagara Falls panoramas: Two photographic wonders and their preservation

Enjoying the view

The power and beauty of Niagara Falls have been moving people for centuries. As part of preserving this legacy, the Archives of Ontario created copies of William Thomson Freeland’s panoramas for display—and, 100 years later, they inspired new work.

A room with a view

The copies of Freeland’s Niagara Falls panoramas in the Archives of Ontario’s reading room allow visitors to stand before the same sweeping vistas that captivated Freeland and appreciate his skill with the camera technology of his day. Although the copies faithfully capture the detail of Freeland’s original photos and the damage they endured, the likenesses had to be scaled down by about 25% to fit on the reading room’s largest wall for display. Thanks to these copies, thousands of visitors have enjoyed these photos and their fascinating journey from the Queen’s Park attic to the Archives.

A large black-and-white panoramic photograph of Niagara Falls in summer, hanging on a beige wall, above beige cabinets. White, fluorescent lights are overhead and a small stool is on the floor beneath the photo.

A large black-and-white panoramic photograph of Niagara Falls in winter, hanging on a beige wall, above beige cabinets. White, fluorescent lights are overhead.

A magical comparison

Inspired by Freeland’s work, former Archives of Ontario staff member Scott Barrie set out to recreate the panoramas using modern photography equipment exactly one hundred years after Freeland took his photographs. “It’s such a magical comparison, the juxtaposition of the state-of-the-art panorama from early in the last century to the state-of-the-art panorama in 2012,” Barrie expressed. “It was pretty neat to be standing there knowing that precisely one hundred years ago, Mr. Freeland was standing in exactly the same spot creating essentially the same image.”

Man wearing a red jacket is standing on a small stool and peering out through the lens of a camera on a large tripod positioned by the railing of a lookout over Niagara Falls. The colours of the leaves on the trees on either side of the Niagara River suggest that it is autumn.

Evolving camera technology

While Freeland created his panoramas in a single exposure, Barrie digitally stitched together a variety of images at different focal lengths taken on his Nikon D300 camera over a three-hour period. Barrie’s photographs could quite easily produce a print equal to or larger in size than Freeland’s photos and reveal a great deal more detail, exposing the considerable advancements in camera technology during the 100-year period between Freeland’s and Barrie’s panoramas.

Witnessing weather changes

When Freeland photographed his winter panorama on November 1, 1912, the area was blanketed in snow. However, when Barrie took his photo exactly a century later, the weather was much warmer and there was no snow in sight. As a result, Barrie’s November 2012 photo bears a closer resemblance to Freeland’s panorama from June 1913, though he later recreated the winter panorama when conditions mirrored those in Freeland’s scene. Beyond changes in camera technology over the decades, the differences between Freeland’s and Barrie’s photos also point to changes in our planet’s weather patterns.

A black digital camera on a mount in the foreground and the American Falls at Niagara Falls in the background. The camera strap reads “Nikon” in yellow letters.

Use the image sliders below to compare Freeland’s panoramas from 1912 and 1913 to Barrie’s photos from one hundred years later. The result is both an homage and evidence of evolution—a century-spanning dialogue between photographers, anchored by the force of Niagara Falls.

Black-and-white panoramic photograph of Niagara Falls in winter, covered in snow and ice. On the left is a bridge over the river and a snow-covered path leading up to a large building on the top of a hill. A tree-lined path is on the right. Tears and water stains are visible on the image.

Black-and-white panoramic photograph of Niagara Falls in summer, with a bridge over the river and a path leading up to a large building on the top of a hill at left and a tree-lined path at right. Tears and water stains are visible on the image.

Colour panoramic photograph of Niagara Falls in autumn. Hills on the left and right sides of the scene feature trees with colourful leaves. A bridge over the Niagara River is towards the left.

Freeland’s and Barrie’s panoramas of the Falls reminds us that, while landscapes may shift and technology may change, the desire to document and share beauty is timeless. Beyond their stunning subject matter, these images also serve as touchstones that connect us to people, places and perspectives that inspire new ways of understanding our world and our relationship to it—much like archives today.

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