Like Mom, Like Dad
August 28, 2010 10:32 AM Subscribe
Recreating pictures of your parents on zefrank.com. (Previous Project)
There are only four pages right now, and unfortunately, not all of the photos have captions.
There are only four pages right now, and unfortunately, not all of the photos have captions.
There is a great picture of my mom as a teenager hamming it up for the camera that looks the most like I do now. I have to find that picture to see if I can recreate it.
posted by TooFewShoes at 10:40 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by TooFewShoes at 10:40 AM on August 28, 2010
I love the one where the kid is posed inside the giant shoe outside the Solvang Shoe Store and asks her mom whether it's the same shoe that she posed in from that photo when she was a kid and then says "Man, that's an old shoe!"
posted by blucevalo at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by blucevalo at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
I like it. There was a thread on AskMe a few years back (too lazy to search) or a guy looking for a specific kind of turtleneck like the one his father wore in a old picture so he could do this exact thing.
posted by Brittanie at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by Brittanie at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2010
If I had to choose a picture to use on th- wait, no, I'm forgetting the setup. You are familiar with the expression, "I know [x] like I know the back of my hand?"
I was at my parents' house a few years ago and looking through an old pile of photos. They weren't really organized, chronologically or otherwise, so Time was all over the place. I found a photo of myself sitting in the driver's seat of our old car and holding a plush E.T. doll up to the steering wheel, as if he were driving. It was a really tight shot so all you can see is a little bit of my forearms, E.T., the steering wheel, etc.
And then I had the strangest revelation - the hands visible in the photo weren't mine. They were my father's. It is astounding to me how similar they were then to mine now. The shape of the hands, the long skinny fingers, the pattern of the hair, the way the tendons stand out ... but the most intense part to me was the map of the veins. We have the same patterns, branchings, layout, everything, down to the smallest detail I could see in the photo.
Of course they weren't my hands, the picture was taken in the 1980s when I was still in grade school. Yet my immediate reaction, "Huh, I don't remember holding E.T. up to the steering wheel" was the only thing I could think, because my mind so vehemently insisted that those were my hands in the photo.
I don't look that much like my dad, but his hands from the 1980s are my hands from the 2000s. That photo is now in my possession and is one of my most cherished keepsakes.
I would love to recreate the shot but I don't know where to get a 1970s Dodge Colt and a plush E.T. doll.
posted by komara at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2010 [4 favorites]
I was at my parents' house a few years ago and looking through an old pile of photos. They weren't really organized, chronologically or otherwise, so Time was all over the place. I found a photo of myself sitting in the driver's seat of our old car and holding a plush E.T. doll up to the steering wheel, as if he were driving. It was a really tight shot so all you can see is a little bit of my forearms, E.T., the steering wheel, etc.
And then I had the strangest revelation - the hands visible in the photo weren't mine. They were my father's. It is astounding to me how similar they were then to mine now. The shape of the hands, the long skinny fingers, the pattern of the hair, the way the tendons stand out ... but the most intense part to me was the map of the veins. We have the same patterns, branchings, layout, everything, down to the smallest detail I could see in the photo.
Of course they weren't my hands, the picture was taken in the 1980s when I was still in grade school. Yet my immediate reaction, "Huh, I don't remember holding E.T. up to the steering wheel" was the only thing I could think, because my mind so vehemently insisted that those were my hands in the photo.
I don't look that much like my dad, but his hands from the 1980s are my hands from the 2000s. That photo is now in my possession and is one of my most cherished keepsakes.
I would love to recreate the shot but I don't know where to get a 1970s Dodge Colt and a plush E.T. doll.
posted by komara at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2010 [4 favorites]
The best of the lot, IMO.
axiom - that was also my favorite one. The similarity really is striking! Bonus points for happy babies.
I came in here to say the same thing. I love how completely happy everybody looks.
posted by emilyd22222 at 11:09 AM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
axiom - that was also my favorite one. The similarity really is striking! Bonus points for happy babies.
I came in here to say the same thing. I love how completely happy everybody looks.
posted by emilyd22222 at 11:09 AM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
The best of the lot, IMO.
axiom - that was also my favorite one. The similarity really is striking! Bonus points for happy babies.
I came in here to say the same thing. I love how completely happy everybody looks.
Ditto! I just came here to post a link to that one as well - so charming. It captures the theme perfectly, I love it.
posted by Auden at 11:40 AM on August 28, 2010
axiom - that was also my favorite one. The similarity really is striking! Bonus points for happy babies.
I came in here to say the same thing. I love how completely happy everybody looks.
Ditto! I just came here to post a link to that one as well - so charming. It captures the theme perfectly, I love it.
posted by Auden at 11:40 AM on August 28, 2010
Wow. This is awesome. Thanks!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:45 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:45 AM on August 28, 2010
(If you like this but wish there were more, know that this site is a spinoff of Young Me / Now Me, which has a bunch more content.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:09 PM on August 28, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:09 PM on August 28, 2010 [2 favorites]
Ian A.T.: "(If you like this but wish there were more, know that this site is a spinoff of Young Me / Now Me, which has a bunch more content.)"
Ah! I knew it looked familiar, somehow. I didn't realize zefrank did the original site too. nice.
I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't a software program that like "splits" you into a female and male parent. Like those age progression algorithms or the ones that take two people and "make a baby" or such.
posted by symbioid at 12:15 PM on August 28, 2010
Ah! I knew it looked familiar, somehow. I didn't realize zefrank did the original site too. nice.
I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't a software program that like "splits" you into a female and male parent. Like those age progression algorithms or the ones that take two people and "make a baby" or such.
posted by symbioid at 12:15 PM on August 28, 2010
I still have the teddy bear I was given as a newborn, so when my son came along we made sure to get the same photo of him in the bassinet at the hospital with that bear. I showed it to my aunt who exclaimed, "That was my teddy bear, too!" My grandparents originally bought it for her because she was premie (in 1959) and wasn't expected to survive and they wanted her to have it so she wouldn't get lonely during the months she spent in the newborn isolette, apparently my aunt gave it to me when I was born. Three generations of newborn Bartfasts with that same bear.
(It's been a year now and I'm still waiting for my parents to locate that photo of me, this project reminds me to keep after them.)
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:52 PM on August 28, 2010
(It's been a year now and I'm still waiting for my parents to locate that photo of me, this project reminds me to keep after them.)
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:52 PM on August 28, 2010
there exists a picture of my Mom throwing a punch in a parking lot with the most amazing feathered hair and denim miniskirt. I don't think I have the legs to pull that off.
posted by The Whelk at 1:35 PM on August 28, 2010
posted by The Whelk at 1:35 PM on August 28, 2010
I don't think I have the legs to pull that off.
That's why Adobe invented Photoshop.
posted by axiom at 1:53 PM on August 28, 2010
That's why Adobe invented Photoshop.
posted by axiom at 1:53 PM on August 28, 2010
Am I the only one whose OCD is bothered by the inattention to detail, or when the subjects aren't even in the same poses or positions? In a couple of cases that's by design, but many of these seem sloppy and didn't bother to even try to look similar- the clothes aren't even the same color, the poses and expressions are different, the subjects aren't even on the same side, etc.
That's probably why everyone likes the handstand one- it does the best job of replicating the original photo and thus showing the central conceit of this site, "Look how much we're like our own parents- and look at how totally okay, even thrilled, we are with that..."
posted by hincandenza at 2:02 PM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
That's probably why everyone likes the handstand one- it does the best job of replicating the original photo and thus showing the central conceit of this site, "Look how much we're like our own parents- and look at how totally okay, even thrilled, we are with that..."
posted by hincandenza at 2:02 PM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'd love to duplicate a picture of my father. But before I duplicate any of them, I'm going to have to great really, really drunk. And schizophrenic.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:36 PM on August 28, 2010
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:36 PM on August 28, 2010
"Am I the only one whose OCD is bothered by the inattention to detail, or when the subjects aren't even in the same poses or positions?"
Go have a couple of beers and come back later!
posted by HuronBob at 3:21 PM on August 28, 2010
Go have a couple of beers and come back later!
posted by HuronBob at 3:21 PM on August 28, 2010
These are great!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:06 PM on August 28, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:06 PM on August 28, 2010
I would be terrified of doing pictures like this with my mother, because other than the hair (which I cut and color differently), the resemblance between me and my mother at my age is already extremely striking. I feel like it's a mark of immaturity of some sort that I'm not entirely OK with that.
posted by immlass at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2010
posted by immlass at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2010
I had a wonderful day with my kids today. Seeing this was the icing on my day-cake. I fucking love being a parent. Thanks for this, Gman!
posted by a non e mouse at 1:42 AM on August 29, 2010
posted by a non e mouse at 1:42 AM on August 29, 2010
Whoops, forgot to close the tag...
/selfaffirmation
posted by a non e mouse at 1:53 AM on August 29, 2010
/selfaffirmation
posted by a non e mouse at 1:53 AM on August 29, 2010
I really think someone should see about getting zefrank a MacArthur Genius grant. How many times has he affected the way you viewed the web, or its denizens?
posted by DigDoug at 7:10 AM on August 29, 2010
posted by DigDoug at 7:10 AM on August 29, 2010
hincandenza, I have a similar annoyance with the site -- that it doesn't even appear that all of the participants were even trying to mimic the original picture. Some of them appear to have just selected a picture of their parents holding them as children, in a common pose, and then found a picture of themselves doing the same thing with their children. Again, that's why the best picture is man holding his baby in his hand in the manner of his father.
posted by Coatlicue at 11:39 AM on August 29, 2010
posted by Coatlicue at 11:39 AM on August 29, 2010
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posted by ODiV at 10:37 AM on August 28, 2010