40 People Share “Then And Now” Photos To Show How Significantly Time Changes Things

Places and landscapes change with time, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• April 1, 2022

Time changes everything - structures, nature, people...But sometimes, those changes are slow and happen in front of us, and we get used to them.

So, we don't really notice just how much certain buildings and people have changed over the years. The best way to see the changes is by comparing "then and now" photos.

The subreddit r/OldPhotosInRealLife is about as near to a time machine as we can get. Its 596k users are continually comparing past and present through rephotography, which is the act of photographing a location that has already been photographed.

The end result resembles a portal, fusing two different periods together. r/OldPhotosInRealLife frequently presents intriguing viewpoints, displaying things in a different perspective from the one we're used to, from overgrown Machu Picchu in 1915 contrasted to the site in 2020 to tourists in The Metropolitan Museum Of Art in 1910 and 2019.

The majority of these photographs depict not only the passage of time but also human progress. City skylines continue to grow, and people in them go from horses to automobiles...

We have chosen 40 of the most interesting photos, and we know you are going to love them. So, get ready for nostalgia to start kicking in...

1. "St Francis Of Assisi Church"

2. "Trains At Harper's Ferry, Wv In 1947 And 2021. The 1947 Image Taken By Ed Wittekind, 2021 Image Shot By Me In The Same Exact Spot"

3. "A Former Public Bath In Wuppertal, Germany, Now A Brewery And Beer Hall. 1993 vs. 2019"

4. "The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland - C.1847 And Today"

5. "It Hasn't Changed Much In 157 Years, Aside From The Platform Height And Electrification. The World's Oldest Undeground Station, Baker Street! *saxophone Plays In The Distance*"

6. "The Golden Cross Inn, Coventry. 1819 vs. Now"

7. "Milan, Italy 1950s And 2021"

8. "Visitors In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Viewing Painting (Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing The Delaware - 1851) 1910 And 2019"

9. "The Berlin Wall Fell 31 Years Ago Today!"

10. "Machu Picchu, Peru. 1915 & 2020"

11. "Ancient Greece Before And After Excavation"

12. "The Big Oak; Thomasville, Ga (1895/2020)"

13. "Court Of The Lions, Granada, Spain - 1840 And Today"

14. "The Royal Crescent, Bath, UK. 1829-2020. Built 1774"

15. "English Tank In The Streets Of My Town, 1945-2021"

16. "Theodore Roosevelt Would Be Proud"

17. "Hiroshima 75 Years Ago"

18. "Town Square In Uelzen, Lower Saxony, Germany- During The Battle Of The Rhine, April 1945 And 2021"

19. "Church St. Martin In Cologne, Germany 1946 And 2021"

20. "Arch Of Constantine In Rome, 1943 (Taken By My Grandfather), And What It Looks Like Today"

21. "Woodstock Festival Site- 1969 / 2020"

22. "Unfinished Manhattan Bridge In 1908 And Now"

23. "Craftsmanship"

24. "Amazing Looking Home Restored In Detroit. 1993 And Now"

25. "Abandoned Restaurant In Petrópolis, Brazil (1960's And 2013)"

26. "Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace At Night’ From 1888 And Present"

27. "Buenos Aires, Argentina [1925, 1980, 2002, 2021]"

28. "The Main Entrance To The City, York, England 1865 - 2015"

29. "Here Is My Great Great Grandfather’s Nashville House In 1896, Two Years Before My Grandfather Was Born. This Picture Has Always Been In The Family Of Course, But Only Today Did I Use Google Maps To Look Up The Address And Find It How It Looks Today. I’m Thrilled That I Found It"

30. "Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, India. 1798 Lithograph By Thomas Daniell And 2016. Built Between 1003-1010"

31. "Kraków, Poland (1939 And 2010s)"

32. "Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula 1964 - 2016"

33. "Hick's Court, St Ives, England - 1888 And Today"

34. "Today vs. Childhood Memory"

35. "My Family Farm C.1900/2000. It Was In Our Family For 125 Years. My Childhood Bedroom Window Is In The Top Center. It Was Also My Father’s And My Grandfather’s Bedroom"

36. "Mount Rushmore"

37. "Czech Out Prague 1910 And 2020"

38. "In 2005, Some Friends And I Found The Road To Jabba's Palace Off Twenty Mule Team Canyon In Death Valley, Ca"

39. "Stonehenge: 1877 And 2019"

40. "Curtiss C-46 Commando, One Of Pablo Escobar / Carlos Lehder’s Drug Smuggling Planes Near Norman’s Cay In The Bahamas, After 35 Years Submerged In Saltwater"

Places and landscapes change with time, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. Countless photographs have been taken around the world over the years.

A small group of history and photography enthusiasts combed through the images to match locations, taking photos in the present to compare with photos from the past. And the results are simply wonderful and eye-opening.

Damjan