It's Marc A. Hermann's job as a photographer for The New York Daily News to cover breaking stories in the world's biggest city.

"I grew up as a history buff, and since I started shooting for newspapers when I was 15, I always tried to envision what the city looked like to my predecessors in the 1930s and '40s," he told Business Insider in an email.

After Hermann started working as a photo assignment editor at The Daily News, he would browse the paper's immense photo archive in his downtime, searching for subjects like "police," "fire," and "murder."

What he uncovered were incredible 4x5 negatives, some of which hadn't been published since they were first shot for the newspaper in the early 20th century.

Inspired by the work of Sergey Larenkov and Joeri Teeuwisse, who blend historic pictures of war-torn Europe with modern-day views, Hermann began visiting different New York locations in the old photos to see if he could line up the perfect shot.

"I'd have to literally occupy the exact airspace as the original shooter, tilting a little to one side, or having to squat down, or having to press up against a wall," he told us. "This project allowed me to literally follow in their footsteps."

The result is his photo series "New York: Then & Now," which we first read about over at The New York Daily News.

The combined scenes of modern shots with vintage crime scenes is a reminder to pause every once in awhile and imagine what our world was like decades ago.