100 Wholesome And Funny Recreations Of Old Photos

The past may be long gone, but you can recreate it.

Kylin

• Published in Nostalgia
• January 11, 2022

The past may be long gone, but you can recreate it. And if you do, make sure you snap a picture and submit it to the subreddit r/PastAndPresentPics.

The internet will thank you for it. Whether it’s an honorable ancestral tribute, a silly childhood moment, or a romantic teenage encounter, this community wants it all.

There are two people running r/PastAndPresentPics, the founder u/NateTrib and moderator and CSS u/enfrozt. And these two were kind enough to share more about their subreddit.

"If you sort the subreddit by 'Top' you'll notice our most popular pictures are from 2 years ago, 7 years ago, and 4 years ago," u/enfrozt was proud to point out. "The subreddit has been around for a long time, and some of our front-page posts were from quite a while ago."

According to creator u/NateTrib, the more popular posts are photos that make a real effort to recreate a past photo. The ones where the person tries to nail every aspect: the outfit, pose, facial expression, and even the background.

"Shout out to my dad who still had his same shirt 25 years later when we did a family Christmas photo recreation!" u/NateTrib added. "The subreddit is pretty niche so when someone takes the time to do a legit Past And Present Pic, the community definitely shows them love!"

u/enfrozt noted that the subreddit has infrequent posts, but the ones it does have are usually really good. Think of it as quality, not quantity.

"I think the subreddit is a perfect sweet spot between a small enough community to not attract too many trolls, and large enough that we get content. Our little corner on Reddit has a great community."

If you're lucky enough to have any old photos available, the moderator suggests trying to get your family and friends together and recapture the memory. "You can create some new memories from the old ones. See where you are today from where you came from and have a laugh or two while doing it!"

To help provide some inspiration to help pull it off, we’ve collected a mega selection of the best posts we could find on the subreddit. Keep scrolling and see which one is your favorite!

1. "Tony Hawk Around 1983 And Earlier This Year At Sanoland In Cardiff, Ca"

2. "My Sister And I Graduating Headstart vs. Us Graduating College"

3. "For My Mom’s 60th Birthday, My Brothers, My Cousin And I Recreated A Photo From My First Day Of Kindergarten."

4. "The Most Poignant Pastandpresent Pic I've Seen To Date"

5. "Minor Threat's 1985 Salad Days Album Cover Recreated In 2021"

6. "From A Ten Your Old Cub Scout To A 27 Year Old Eagle Scout (Even The Hat Is The Same. Go Braves!!!)"

7. "Me In 1995 And 2010, British Columbia"

8. "Timeless."

9. "My Parents Took Pictures Of Us Asleep In Weird Positions When We Were Kids. We Recreated The Photos As Adults, But Just Look Like A Bunch Of Drunks!"

10. "Rush"

11. "1999 & 2019"

12. "18 Years And Counting Of Being Best Friends With U/Profemory. Ages 5 And 23."

13. "Cousins 2004-2012-2016-2021"

14. "My Wife And I During A Dance In Sixth Grade And Then On Our Wedding Day"

15. "My Grandma And Dad 1966 And 2020"

16. "Me And My Bros - Part 2."

17. "When The Student Pulls A Reverse Uno On The Teacher.."

18. "Same Photo Nearly 30 Years Apart.. I Am The Baby In The First Photo And Holding My Son In The Second Mlcphotography"

19. "Pop Wanted To Recreate His Childhood Santa Photo"

20. "3 Sisters, 37 Years Apart. I Don't Know Why It Took Us So Long To Make One Of These."

21. "Only A Few Months Apart."

22. "Perfect Past And Present Strangers"

23. "In 1989 I Loved A Perm And A Scrunchie Or Three, And I Recently Recreated The Style For An 80's Night In Edinburgh."

24. "15 Years Later And We Still Have That Mall Photo Shoot Swagger!"

25. "Me And My Kids! (2005 @ Recife-Pe-Brazil - 2018 @ Tucson-Az-USA)"

26. "Bomb Pops 1997 & 2020"

27. "20+ Years Of Friendship And Counting"

28. "My Sis And I Did A Series Of Throwbacks - This Is Definitely The Best One. Circa 1994 vs. 2015"

29. "Another Recreation That We Did For Our Nana’s Photo Album! This One Was Particularly Important To Do Because She Carries The Original In A Little Compact Mirror/Photo In Her Handbag."

30. "I was directed to this sub 1968 to 2018."

31. "Me As A Baby Wearing A Ridiculous Wig vs. Me At 21 With The Hair I Ended Up Growing"

32. "My Mom Holding Me 1979, My Mom Holding My Daughter In The Same Dress 2019."

33. "This Famous Photo Of A 12yr Old Afghan Girl And Her 18 Years Later (Photo By Steve Mccurry)"

34. "3 Brothers From Italy, Early 1960s/2011 (My Nonno Is On The Left)"

35. "Christmas Present For My Mom. ~27 Years Apart."

36. "It's All I Wanted For My 60th Birthday"

37. "15 Years Later..."

38. "I Found An Old Pic Of Me Playing Computer Games. As It Turns Out I Haven't Changed Very Much"

39. "They Were Neighbours Since The Birth, The Photo Was Taken On The Bride's 3th Birthday By Her Parents"

40. "23 Years"

41. "Cousins 😆"

42. "He's Come Such A Long Way. Much Love For Steveo"

43. "Follow Up To The One We Posted Last Night...."

44. "My Boyfriend And I Discovered We Had Matching Photos As Ninja Turtles-Obsessed Preschoolers. We Knew What Had To Happen Next."

45. "17 Years Apart - 2004 Cicada Brood —> 2021 Cicada Brood"

46. "My Sister Got Married Over The Weekend, So We Recreated This Gem From Our Childhood"

47. "New Year's Eve In Kosovo - 1998 And 2020"

48. "Well, We Tried... Cousins. All Born About Three Months Apart. 24 Years Difference Here."

49. "My Daughter, Age 2 In 1998 On The Left, My Granddaughter, Age Two In 2019 On The Right"

50. "My Little Brother Cleaning The Toilet, Seven Years And A Bathroom Remodel Later"

51. "My Dog, In The Same Spot, At 1 Year Old And 11 Years Old."

52. "My Wife And I Recreating Our Picture Atop The Seattle Space Needle 25 Years Apart (1994-2019)"

53. "My Brother And I, 1990-2017"

54. "We recreated a childhood photo… from Blue’s Clues birthday party to 20 years later at Thanksgiving!"

55. "2007/2019 - Guess I Should Have Brought The Hat To The Wedding"

56. "My Parents By Their Tree In 1975 And Now In 2016"

57. "Biff Got What He Deserved After Almost 35 Years."

58. "Mom And Dad 1983 > 2019"

59. "Playing With A Cricket, 1980s And 2020"

60. "Brothers In A Bathtub. 20 Years Apart."

61. "My Father And I At The Same Spot On Table Mountain... 30 Years Apart"

62. "15 Years Of Anniversaries. Can You Tell When It Stopped Being Taken With A Digital Camera And Began Being Taken With A Phone?"

63. "24 Years In Between"

64. "Me on the left, my son on the right, 39 years apart"

65. "Thanksgiving 2011-2021"

66. "Gatorland Zoo In Florida."

67. "Couple At Woodstock 48 Hrs After They Met And 50 Years Later"

68. "On The Left Was Mother In 1980. Now In 2014, Her Daughter."

69. "Faithful Little Desk Buddy"

70. "I Convinced My Parents To Reenact Their Wedding Photo 45 Years Later, Including The Same Dress"

71. "Reading the newspaper with dad"

72. "34 Years Apart."

73. "Steve And Robert Irwin Feeding The Same Crocodile 15 Years Apart"

74. "Ellen Degeneres And Her Prom Date Richard In 1976 And In 2005"

75. "40+ Years Later"

76. "Bride And Maid Of Honour, Then And Now"

77. "Same Beach, 25 Years Apart."

78. "Cindy Crawford at 55 recreating her 1992 Pepsi ad."

79. "My Son And I Planted Our Faces On A Copier, Then And Now"

80. "My Mother Made Me The 2 Year Old Outfit And The 39 Year Old Outfit"

81. "Every Five Years From 1982-2012, Five Men Take The Same Photo At Their Cabin At Copco Lake In California. They Plan On Adding A 2017 Photo This Summer."

82. "1991 - 2019"

83. "My Grandpa In The Middle With His Sister Annetta On His Left With Their Best Friends 1927 vs. 1992"

84. "My Son's First Days Of School, K-12"

85. "Picture On The Right Went Viral Recently. 33 Years Later The Same Protagonists Recreated It"

86. "Passing Down The Baby Express To My Own Son"

87. "The same person, Han Junjia, 26 years apart, China"

88. "20th Wedding Anniversary"

89. "Every Year, My Siblings And I Take Our "Christmas Juicebox Photo". This Is Year 11, But I Didn't See Them Because Of Covid. So My Sister Photoshopped Me In!"

90. "My Dad Returned To London 37 Years Later (1979 vs. 2016)

91. "A Few Of My Friends Who Gave Me Permission To Post This Here, 6 Years Apart"

92. "A Picture Of Jesse Jackson And Beto O’rourke 37 Years Apart"

93. "I Came To This Courtroom With My Class In Kindergarten. Today, 14 Years Later, I Finished My Internship With The Judge In The Same Courtroom."

94. "I've Never Been Particularly Photogenic..."

95. "My Grandma’s Lebanese Passport Picture From 1955 (Left) And Me In The Present (Right). Christmas Gift To My Dad Last Year"

96. "My Sister And I, 1992 And 2014"

97. "Same Pride, Same Couple 25 Years Later (2017)"

98. "Father & Son, The Very First & Last Space Shuttle Launch, 30 Years Apart"

99. "40 Years Later..."

100. "My Four Brothers And I In 1997 vs. 2017"

Currently, the subreddit has 71.8K members. u/enfrozt thinks the subreddit’s popularity comes from people’s fascination and entertainment by how other people recreate their past photos because we all have a soft spot for nostalgia.  

"Whether it's walking down the road of your childhood neighborhood, the smell of your mother's homecooked food, or eating an ice cream from the shop near your house that tastes the exact same as when you were young, memories from the good times can spark positive emotions," they explained. "I think the older we get, the more we reminisce about the 'good times,' the fond memories of growing up."

Let us know your favorite r/PastAndPresentPics and share this with your friends and family!

Kylin