A PHOTOGRAPHER and artist has brought the past back to life in a series of stunning images of Colchester.

Talented Xavier Marseille, 39, started a new project to merge old and new pictures together to create a 'glimpse' of the past.

His work has created a buzz on social media and now he is appealing to find more old pictures of the town to start a new exhibition or create a line of postcards.

So far, Xavier - known as Xav - has transformed several images including the High Street, Castle Park and Scheregate Steps, along with two new pictures provided by The Gazette.

Xav uses several programmes including Photoshop to carefully weave the pictures together, which can take between three and five hours to do.

The North Hill resident, who moved from Paris to England 21 years ago and works in finance, said: "Being able to share these pictures with hundreds, thousands, millions of people on social media triggered my appetite.

"I usually look for pictures that are as good quality as possible and start with that. It's great to do in Colchester because the buildings haven't changed that much - the more the street has changed, the harder it becomes.

"The great thing is people enjoy them and share them."

Other pieces of Xav's photographic art have already been on display in Colchester, namely at the Digby Gallery at the Mercury Theatre in May. 

Made-up of layers of Xav's own photos, images from the internet and patterns and words he's created himself, the idea was to pull the viewer in and then take them on a journey.

Gazette:

And it's a theme that has clearly continued in his new project.

  • If you have any old pictures of Colchester you would like Xav to transform, contact the newsroom on 01206 508432 or email xavmars1@gmail.com.