Steve Birnbaum is a documentary filmmaker in New York who was looking for a challenging way to spend his downtime—and he found a doozy of a project. Defying the AI trend, Birnbaum hit the streets to blend famous photos of popular musicians with the contemporary locations where they were originally shot. It no doubt requires patience and skill to precisely match things up (as the image of Elvis below attests).
The original photos, pulled mostly from iconic album covers and some music videos, demand considerable travel throughout the United States. It ain’t easy, but it is fascinating time travel. After seeing a writeup in The New York Post, I started following his Instagram feed, and asked Birnbaum to tell us more about his process and goal.
Elvis at Graceland from Michael Ochs Archives Reimagined by Steve Birnbaum.
What inspired you to take on this project?
The project was inspired by the events of 9/11. A week after the attacks, the Village Voice ran a cover image by Andre Souroujon, who was holding up a postcard of the World Trade Center, where they had stood a week prior. I was deeply moved by the way that image was displayed and I began using that similar style, but with personal photographs from my family albums. These included images of me with my deceased grandparents, standing at a bus stop on the first day of school, with family at a holiday gathering, etc. I was moved by these images and continued to do this sporadically over the years.
Social media wasn’t around at the time, but when Facebook became popular, I started sharing these images with my family and friend groups. Around 2011, I began transitioning to pop culture and music photography.
Blondie – Debbie Harry at Coney Island by Bob Gruen, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
It wasn’t until I started doing this consistently on Instagram that a friend suggested that I share these images with a wider audience. At that time, this was a way to feel creative during long days of editing documentaries and feeling uninspired/creative. Taking these photographs and sharing them publicly helped fill that void.
Around 2016, I opened up my account publicly, and it has been gradually growing since then.
I shifted my focus to music photography because, despite working primarily in the film industry, music and music photography have been a significant source of inspiration for my career. Perhaps more than film has. Music photographers and the photography of my favorite musicians were the initial spark that ignited my interest in bands, photography, music videos and film.
Bruce Springsteen by Joel Bernstein, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
It appears as though you have to do a lot of detective work to find these locations. How difficult is it?
It can be challenging at times, but as I often tell those who ask, I genuinely enjoy the hunt! I compare it to a constant game of “Where’s Waldo?” I feel like I’m cheating when I find the location of an image that’s so obvious, or when there are blatant clues within the image, such as a street sign or address on a building.
However, I try to challenge myself as much as possible. This often has me searching for hours for a clue that ultimately leads to a dead end. I’ll then pick it up a few days, months or even years later and start the investigation again.
Beyonce from the Crazy In Love music video directed by Jake Nava, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
I often find clues in the photographer’s contact sheets (if they’re public), musician interviews, musician schedules like tour dates, or books about the musicians or photographers.
Especially for New York, being familiar with the city is helpful, such as the architecture of the city, which often evokes a sense of the area the picture may have been taken in. For instance, the Lower East Side is very different from Times Square. That’s more obvious than others, but you get the idea. Having lived in the city for so long, you become familiar with the smallest things, whether you realize it or not. It’s not until I stop and think about the details within a picture that it triggers a memory or emotion like, “Oh, I’ve walked by this before, or I think I’ve eaten in that restaurant. When was that, and where?”
Google Maps has been the biggest help, though. Sometimes, all it is is spending hours searching down streets trying to look for anything similar to what I’m seeing in a picture.
You also have to be a bit crazy to do this. It takes up a lot of time.
John Coltrane Love Supreme by Bob Thiele, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
Johnny Cash by Andy Earl, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
Have there been locations that you just couldn’t find, either because they had been demolished or changed in some way?
Because so much has changed and is changing, that has become difficult. Even if I think a picture was taken at a specific place, but it’s now changed, it’s hard to confirm it without documentation of what and where a place once looked like.
I have a long list of images that I keep coming back to, but I just can’t find them. Some are easier to locate than others. Obviously, the older the image, the more likely it is that the environment has changed.
Additionally, due to the constant construction in New York City, I often find myself arriving at locations only to discover that they are under scaffolding, which usually doesn’t make for a good picture.
On the other hand, the more I’ve visited Los Angeles, the more I’ve appreciated that they’ve managed to preserve many of the old designs over the years. Often, the same Laurel Canyon locations from the 1960s haven’t changed much to the present day. I appreciate that.
Notorious BIG by David McIntyre, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
What determines the album you select?
It’s often the music I enjoy or the photographers who inspire me. Rarely do I highlight a musician I’m unfamiliar with, but occasionally, people send me images of artists I’m completely unaware of, which piques my interest and makes me want to learn more about them.
Is there one locale that is your holy grail? The one place you have not yet captured?
There are many albums I’d love to get, some of which I think I’ve found, while others remain elusive.
One album I believe I’ve located is Nirvana’s Nevermind cover featuring the baby. If given the chance, I’d love to try and capture it underwater, that is if I have the right location in mind.
Another album I keep coming back to and trying to find is Rancid’s cover for their album … And Out Come the Wolves. Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is another album I’m always trying to locate.
Is it necessary for you to do much travel?
It’s becoming increasingly important for me to explore and capture iconic images outside of New York City. While I’ve managed to capture many memorable moments in NYC, I realize there are countless more that I haven’t had the chance to see or experience, but I need to dig in deeper and find those images within photographers’ archives or images in print that haven’t been digitized yet.
Traveling overseas is a dream I aspire to fulfill soon. NYC has proven to be an excellent place to capture a vast array of images within a relatively short distance. While there are many iconic images outside of NYC and Los Angeles, the landscape of photography opportunities begins to dwindle as you venture further away. Sure, there might be a classic image of The Ramones at some roadside diner in West Virginia, but the effort and expense involved in traveling there just to capture that one moment become prohibitive.
I’ve made an effort to conduct extensive research on images that have been captured in various states by pinning their locations to a running map I’ve created of these locations, and plan to visit them whenever I’m in the area.
Kurt Cobain by Tracy Marander, reimaged by Steve Birnbaum
What is your plan for this body of work?
I’ve been trying to incorporate my documentary skills into this project in some way. I recently finished filming a short documentary/spec TV episode that I plan to start pitching around. The particular episode revolves around the cover image of the Woodstock Soundtrack and its historical significance. I envision this project expanding beyond social media and potentially becoming a docuseries, at least that’s what I hope.
I’d also love to see these images displayed in a gallery setting, away from our phone screens. I’ve begun documenting these locations without holding up the original photographs, and it’s fascinating to compare the original images to how they once were (and where these people once stood) and how they look today without them.
People have approached me about creating a book, but obtaining the rights to the original photographs is challenging and potentially expensive.
I’ve gradually begun talking to individual photographers, and there’s a possibility of collaborating on print runs with some of them.
I don’t see a finish in sight. There’s still a whole world in front of me with iconic locations waiting to be captured. Hell, I haven’t even been to England yet! I mean, it’s typical, but I need to go to Abbey Road for sure.
Michael Jackson Thriller directed by John Landis, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
Have you shared them with any of the recording artists?
I try to share them with all the artists I feature. Tagging them on Instagram is the obvious approach, one that has helped me build a connection with some of these musicians.
Chris Stein of Blondie, Lana Del Rey, Justin Bieber, SZA, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, John Mayer, Members of My Chemical Romance, Kurt Vile, Questlove of The Roots and many more have just been a few people I’ve been able to connect with, which is great, not to mention the amazing photographers behind some of the images of these musicians.
A recent post I did on the band The War On Drugs is something that comes to mind. I had gone back to the location of where the lead singer, Adam Granduciel, lived in Philadelphia and had recorded two of their albums, one being the album Lost in the Dream, which was a breakthrough for them. This space held a lot of memories for Adam, some good and bad, and he lived there during a pivotal point in his career and life. He moved out, and the space recently had a fire and needed to be demolished.
I went back twice (snuck in) in various stages of the demolition, and documented some of the images taken inside. It was an interesting juxtaposition.
After I posted it, Adam reached out and said how appreciative he was that I did that and how much it meant to him to see those images in that context. Things like that are great to hear—when in some way those musicians’ art connects with you, and you have the chance to do the same for them.
Questlove of The Roots by Martin Schoeller, reimagined by Steve Birnbaum
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