“A bicyclist rides towards the fallen Valencia St. Hotel and a huge sinkhole that has opened up in the street.”

Shawn Clover has stitched together a brutal set of photos that blends snaps of 1906's earthquake aftermath with corresponding scenes from today.  From the sounds of it, this was no easy process:

I first put together a good-sized library of historical photos that looked like they have potential to be blended. But unfortunately most of these photos end up on the digital cutting room floor because there’s simply no way to get the same photo today because either a building or a tree is in the way. Other potential photos have copyright claims with no way to get a release. Once I get a good location, I get everything lined up just right. My goal is to stand in the exact spot where the original photographer stood. Doing this needs to take into account equivalent focal length and how the lens was shifted. I take plenty of shots, each nudged around a bit at each location. Just moving one foot to the left changes everything.

He has 25 historical stitches completed so far, split between two parts (including a pretty grim photo of a pile of dead horses rotting in front of a Mercedes in part one), with a promise of more on the way.

Here's a couple more shots to get you started:

“People stroll by the original adobe Mission Dolores which survived, while the brick church next door was destroyed.”

“Cars travel down S. Van Ness [at 17th], which has buckled after the quake.”

“Cable car #455 rests halfway in the partially-destroyed cable car barn.”

[Shawn Clover | via Burrito Justice]