Old new photographs

At the end of 2010, we had a presentation in the village of old local photographs. The suggestion was made that I might have a go a re-shooting some of these.

Here's a few shots to show the concept.....

It hasn't changed much, at least in these pictures.

The idea is to present these and others at the village art exhibition in the spring. Photographically, the focus is more on an historical record than somethat artistic, however there is still scope to apply my vision to the shots.

For instance, I'm asking myself how to present the differences. Do I attempt to replicate the idealised pastoral scenes in the style of Roger Fenton (ref. 'Mill at Hurst Green' from 'The Photograph' by Graham Clarke)?

That would be quite difficult, in particular because cars litter the place, at least at weekends when I'm able to go and shoot. Not only that, there's a lot more vegetation around, obscuring some views completely and giving the place a less well ordered impression. Gardens are generally well kept, but not in the tightly ordered style visible in the original shots.

To what extent do I attempt to hide these changes, for instance by asking people to move their cars out of shot and choosing 'nice' weather to get 'pretty' pictures? Or should I attempt to  highlight the changes? Perhaps its inevitable that those differences will be apparent, it just depends how closely the viewer observes the shots. What do you think?