Originally published 2019-04-15.
Most of us don't notice ourselves ageing day by day. It takes an old photograph, held next to a new one, to show how much a face, a pet, a fence or a favourite toy has changed. That is why "then and now" recreations are so satisfying: same pose, same place or same outfit, and suddenly the years become visible at a glance.
The trend has been around for as long as family albums, but it took off online in early 2019, when the #10YearChallenge spread across social media and millions of people posted a picture of themselves from around 2009 next to a current one. The pairs below come from that wave and from the years around it, mostly shared by their creators on Reddit and the Russian site Pikabu. They range from a man who tracked down the very photographer behind his teenage portrait to a couple who posed on the same rocks decades apart.
We have grouped them by theme: people restaging their younger selves, couples and families, pets that grew up on camera, and places and objects that aged along with their owners. Each pair is credited to the person who shared it. At the end you will find a few practical tips if you would like to make a recreation of your own.
People restaging their younger selves
The tracksuit from about 1993
A Reddit user spotted a shell suit almost identical to the one he wore as a child, bought it, and returned to the same leafy spot to copy his childhood pose. The original dates from around 1993, when shiny nylon tracksuits in clashing teal and purple were everywhere. The grown-up version proves the fashion has not aged as gracefully as the man wearing it.
Tony Hawk joins the 10-year challenge
Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on
The professional skateboarder, then 50, took part in the challenge on 30 January 2019 with a then-and-now post on Instagram. Hawk, born in 1968, had been skating professionally since his teens, so his entry was a playful nod to a career that had already spanned four decades. Celebrity posts like this helped keep the trend in the headlines for weeks.
A grandfather recreates a photo from 80 years earlier
In the old black-and-white picture, a small boy in a buttoned coat and shorts stands beside a carved wooden chair. Eighty years later the same man, now white-haired, poses next to a similar cane-backed chair, in shorts and a blazer, copying his stance. Recreations that span an entire lifetime are rare, which is why this one became a favourite on the r/OldSchoolCool forum.
The awkward senior portrait, remade by the same photographer
This man lived with an uncomfortable school portrait for fifteen years, then went to remarkable lengths: he found the original photographer and recreated the set, the balloon props and the pose for a new shot. Balloon numbers mark the two class years, 2003 and 2018. He joked that the remake shows how much he has grown as a person, which, judging by the near-identical outfit, is open to debate.
A drummer, 13 years apart
On the left, a teenager hammers away at a kit in a garage next to the family car. Thirteen years later he is playing on a proper stage, bearded and in a band T-shirt, with the same grip and the same concentration. He shared the pair on the r/drums forum with a simple message: never stop playing.
Couples and families across the decades
From the carousel to the wedding
Two children grin at each other from painted horses on a merry-go-round. Years later, the same pair return to a carousel, this time in a suit and a wedding dress. Childhood friends who later marry are not as unusual as films suggest, and a photo like this tells that whole story in two frames.
Father and son at the Grand Palace, 24 years apart
One photo shows a father posing by an ornate green lamp post in front of the Grand Palace in Bangkok; the other shows his son in exactly the same spot 24 years later. The palace, begun in 1782 under King Rama I, still hosts royal ceremonies and draws millions of visitors each year, so the backdrop has barely changed even as the visitors have.
The same rocks, decades later
A young couple in swimwear sit together on a rocky shore in a sepia photograph. Decades on, the same two people sit on what appear to be the same rocks, in the same pose, smiling in full colour. This pair also served as the preview image for the original post on our site, and it is easy to see why: it is a quiet portrait of a lasting relationship.
Seventy years apart at a mountain lake
Here the photographer used a different technique: holding an old black-and-white print up against the real landscape so the mountains line up. In the print, swimmers splash in the lake about 70 years earlier; behind it, the same peaks and shoreline look almost untouched. It is a simple trick that anyone with a family snapshot of a holiday spot can try.
One Reddit shirt, many birthdays
A parent photographed their daughter in the same grey shirt with the Reddit alien logo again and again, from babyhood to school age. The garment that once fitted as a loose bodysuit slowly turns into a snug T-shirt. Repeated portraits like this work almost like a time-lapse of growing up.
The family car, 1995 and 2015
In 1995 a family lined up beside their pale estate car in an open field; twenty years later the father and son posed again with what looks like the very same vehicle, an old Soviet-era Lada-style estate. Keeping a car running for more than two decades says a lot about the owners' devotion and mechanical skill.
The honeymoon photo, 40 years later
A bride in a yellow hat, red coat and striped dress walks out arm in arm with her new husband. Forty years later the couple recreated the moment, with the wife in a strikingly similar red coat and striped dress. Their child shared the result on Reddit, where it became one of the best-loved anniversary recreations of the year.
Pets that grew up on camera
The "incredible shrinking woman"
A woman holds her puppy upright by the front paws, then repeats the pose as the dog grows. By the last frame the shaggy dog reaches her shoulders, which is why the caption jokes that she is shrinking. Large breeds can multiply their weight many times in their first year, so a series like this captures growth that is easy to miss day to day.
Two kittens, five years on
An orange kitten and a grey-and-white tabby curl up together in a cardboard box. Five years later the same pair, now big fluffy adults, share a laundry basket. Littermates or cats raised together often stay bonded for life, and this owner clearly kept them together.
A boy and his dog
A young boy sits in a garden with a black puppy and crouches to play with it. In the matching photos, both are fully grown: a lanky teenager and a large, curly-coated dog, in the same patio setting. It shows how children and family dogs often grow up in parallel.
One year, one very small toy
A fluffy kitten sits comfortably inside a round orange scratcher toy. Just one year later the same cat perches on it like a throne, barely able to squeeze in. Most cats reach close to adult size within about a year, which makes first-birthday comparisons especially dramatic.
The pumpkin photo that went "well"
The original shows a Labrador puppy posing neatly between two plastic jack-o'-lantern buckets. A year later, the owner tried to repeat the shot, and the dog simply grabbed a bucket and chewed it. The deadpan caption, "It went well", is part of the fun.
Georgie, 12 years later
A golden retriever puppy sits in the snow with ears pricked up. Twelve years later Georgie sits in the snow again, her face lighter and softer with age. Twelve is a good age for a golden retriever, a breed that commonly lives around ten to twelve years.
The "10 (dog) year challenge"
Two husky-type dogs sprawl together on a couch in the same sleepy tangle, photographed again after they had grown up. The joke borrows the popular idea that one human year equals seven dog years. Vets generally regard that rule as a simplification: dogs age fastest in their first year or two, and large breeds tend to age faster than small ones.
Places and objects that aged too
A new fence and the same fence 14 years later
A man stands next to the wooden fence he is building in a green garden. Fourteen years later he poses in the same spot, but the fence is grey, leaning and half collapsed, swallowed by weeds. Untreated wood exposed to rain and frost weathers quickly, and this pair shows it more clearly than any manual could.
The same Lego astronaut, 35 years apart
Two white spaceman minifigures from Lego's Classic Space range stand side by side: one kept since childhood and photographed again 35 years later beside a newer one. Lego launched its Space theme in 1978, and the smiling astronaut with the planet logo became one of its most recognisable figures; a blue version later starred as Benny in The Lego Movie. Faded printing and scuffed plastic are what decades of play do to a toy.
How to recreate an old photo yourself
If these pairs have made you want to dig out an old album, a few simple steps will make your recreation look much better:
- Match the lens height. Most errors come from shooting from a different height or angle. Put the camera where the original photographer stood and at the same eye level.
- Find the anchors. Line up something fixed in the frame, such as a doorway, a tree, a mountain or a lamp post, before you worry about the people.
- Recreate one detail exactly. A matching shirt, toy or prop does most of the storytelling, as the tracksuit and honeymoon pairs show.
- Try the "hold it up" method. Holding the old print in front of the real scene, as in the mountain lake photo, works even if you can't match the pose.
- Ask before posting. Recreations often include family members and children, so check that everyone is happy with the photos being shared publicly.
Why these pictures stay with us
Side-by-side photos give our brains a fixed reference point. Because the setting or pose stays the same, the eye goes straight to what changed: a greying muzzle, a taller child, a sagging fence. That contrast is surprisingly moving, even when the subject is a stranger's cat.
They also remind us that the photos we take today will be the "before" pictures of tomorrow. The person who snapped a puppy next to a pumpkin bucket had no idea it would become a joke shared around the world a year later. So take the ordinary photo, keep it somewhere safe, and maybe, in ten or forty years, stand in the same spot again.
Sources: Photo pairs credited under each image to their creators on Reddit and Pikabu; Tony Hawk on Instagram; Meme.com, 10 Year Challenge; Wikipedia, Grand Palace; Wikipedia, Lego Space.
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