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“Then and Now” Portraits of Celebrities With Their Younger Selves

By Emma Taggart on August 11, 2021

Then and Now Celebrity Photos by Ard Gelinck

Amy Winehouse

If you could go back in time and meet your younger self, wouldn’t you want a photo to remember the bizzaro moment? Graphic designer Ard Gelinck uses Photoshop as a sort of time machine, creating images that appear as though celebrities are hanging out with their past selves. He combines existing photos of famous faces into one seamless “then and now” shot, revealing how they’ve aged over time.

Gelinck posts a new photo mashup every day, and the prolific artist shows no sign of slowing down. The Photoshop master is able to merge two images together by matching their tone and scale, resulting in single shots that look totally real. His latest photos show some celebrities next to their kid selves, revealing how they looked before they were famous. Amy Winehouse, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, and Mick Jagger all pose next to themselves as children. Even then, their mini-mes still had that star quality.

In other images, Gelinck shows how famous people looked during their “comeup” vs. how they look now. Will Smith as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air grins energetically next to his current self, who is now 52 years old. In another image, a young J-Lo poses next to Jennifer Lopez (who is also 52), who doesn’t seem to have aged at all!

Gelinck claims that each edit is made with respect to the original photographer, and he tries to credit them whenever possible.

Check out Gelinck’s latest “then and now” celebrity photos below and find more on Instagram.