Shanghai, 1990 / 2010
If you like this, check out:
Chiswick High Road, 1982 / 2003
Twin Peaks 20 years later
One family, 30 years
Time-lapse of rush hour, Waterloo Station, 1970
Time-lapse with giant robot
25 years of Christmas
'Be your own self. Love what YOU love'
Sequence photographs
'Time Warp' Water balloon
i-Phone Fireflies
Richard Scarry's 'Best Word Book Ever', 1963 / 1991
Time-lapse of 'The New York Times', 2010-2011
US expansion through post offices
Commerce Street, New York, 1880-2011
100 Years of Fashion in 100 Seconds
Time-Lapse of Natalie from birth to 10 years old in 1 minute 25 sec
New York Day to Night
'BlowUp' - 1966/1999
Queue for first Moscow McDonalds, 1990
Abandoned Ekranoplan
Barack Obama on 'Black History Minute', 1991
Very cool pics. Not that it’s the point, but it’s interesting to note that the two pictures are at significantly different scales. Notice the the two distinctive buildings in the lower left of both frames, and the clock tower that is in the bottom right of the top frame but the middle-left of the bottom frame.
Hugh, you are right, the perspectives are different. However, when I took the 2 photos into Photoshop and aligned them correctly, the scenery was, if anything, even scarier, the towers even higher. And their number is undisputable. Thinking about it, that was 20 years ago! Not a bloody century – it is what has changed since I learned to be a merchant in a German/Chinese joint venture. This was such a different country then.
from astronauts to taikonauts
And what has grown in the West during the same period?
* The popular culture has transformed from science fiction-inspired to gangsta-inspired. Compare 1980s music to 2000s music.
* 1992: the year the NASA worm logo dies.
* 1992: the year Superman dies. (Seriously. Look up Wikipedia.)
* 1992: the year Beavis & Butthead get born.
* In the second decade of the 21st century, “Star Trek” is passé and the chief use that people can conceive for personal computers is as fancy communication terminals.
“A fool and his money are soon parted.”
There is no economic crisis… there is only crisis of imagination.
I wish China maintains this pace of growth for another 20 years… the world needs it.
Meanwhile, the only hope for the West is probably the Venus Project [1]. We desperately need rebirth of an ethos… any ethos.
In my society, I suffer terrible alienation in holding the above convictions… at a time when everybody else’s top dream seems to be retirement in the countryside. Ray Bradbury’s letter comes to mind [2]. I have the opposite problem to his: in my childhood’s era, I didn’t lack companions to share my fascinations… I only do now, in 21st century.
Maybe it’s time to emigrate to Shanghai.
P.S. Thanks, The Retronaut, for bringing this outstanding website idea to life, and for giving a name – “retronaut”, as well as “retroscope” – to a fantasy which I have thought only I have had. Laws of physics – or even logic – may well prohibit time travel. But no laws of physics prohibit… retroscopy.
[1] http://www.thevenusproject.com/
[2] http://www.retronaut.co/2011/04/be-your-own-self-love-what-you-love/
You’re most welcome