Unique Pet Portraits Place Puppies Next to Their Adult Selves in One Seamless Photo

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Puppy parents know how quickly a canine grows up. Even months later, a fuzzy baby can be well on its way to looking like a mature dog. Photo editor Mandy Helwege has a unique way of chronicling the fleeting adolescence of a dog. Using Photoshop and her expert retouching skills, she creates a single photo featuring two portraits of the same dog. One is as a puppy and the other is as an adult. Her business is called Seeing Double Edits, and her resulting images are seamless images where the same creature is interacting with itself at a different age. But thanks to her talents, it looks as though the duo was posed together in real life.

Helwege has been an animal and art lover her entire life. “When I got my Great Dane Elliott back in 2017,” she tells My Modern Met, “I took hundreds of photos of her and started an Instagram to share those photos as she grew to not overwhelm my Facebook friends. She was about a year old when I tried this concept on her for the first time and I immediately had friends ask me to do them for their dogs.” Word caught on. “Once strangers started asking me to do them and offering to pay me, I knew I might be into something which is how Seeing Double Edits was born.”

Helwege never anticipated that the business would take off as it did. But after a video of hers went viral on TikTok, she saw it as a sign to take Seeing Double Edits full-time. “I figured I’d be lucky to do a few a month on the side for fun (and some extra cash) while working a normal 9–5 sales job because I’d told myself for years doing art wasn’t something I’d ever do full-time. (I’d failed at that miserably before.)”

Seeing Double Edits is so popular that Helwege is only able to open up her availability once a month. During that time, 160 to 185 editing slots are available, and they sell out in 90 seconds.

“It’s truly been such a gift to not only make money getting to do something I love every day,” Helwege says, “but to have the opportunity to use my skills to create such treasured and powerful pieces of custom art for pet owners around the world!”

Photo editor Mandy Helwege has a unique way of chronicling the fleeting adolescence of a dog.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Using Photoshop and her expert retouching skills, she creates a single photo featuring two portraits of the same dog.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Her business is called Seeing Double Edits.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

The resulting images are seamless images where the same creature is interacting with itself at a different age.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

But thanks to her talents, it looks as though the duo is posing together at the same time.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Helwege's inspiration came from her own pup.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

“[My pup] was about a year old when I tried this concept on her for the first time and I immediately had friends ask me to do them for their dogs,” she tells My Modern Met.

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Pet Transformation Photos

Seeing Double Edits: Website | Instagram | TikTok

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Mandy Helwege.

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Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met and Manager of My Modern Met Store. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned her BFA in Illustration and MFA in Illustration Practice. Sara is also an embroidery illustrator and writer living in Seattle, Washington. She runs Bear&Bean, a studio where she stitches pet portraits and other beloved creatures. She chronicles the creativity of others through her website Brown Paper Bag and newsletter, Orts. Her latest book is Threads of Treasure: How to Make, Mend, and Find Meaning Through Thread, published in 2014. Sara’s work has been recognized in Be Creative With Workbox, Embroidery Magazine, American Illustration, on Iron and Wine’s album Beast Epic, among others. When she’s not stitching or writing, Sara enjoys planning things that bring together the craft community. She is the co-founder of Camp Craftaway, a day camp for crafty adults with hands-on workshops in the Seattle area.
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