50 Fascinating ‘Old-Time Photos’ That Show You Just How Much The World Has Changed

To learn more about the fascinating world of photography from the past, we got in touch with Ed Padmore, founder of Vintage Photo Lab. Ed was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and discuss why it's so important to preserve these old pictures.

"When I launched Vintage Photo Lab, I was lucky to still have three grandparents. Today, I no longer have any. Their generation was the first to experience affordable cameras, and whilst lots of families have photos pre-dating this time, it was this period where modern photographic family history began. The Baby Boomer generation came along after them and had even more options: cheaper cameras, instant cameras (Polaroids) and even home movie cameras. With global travel becoming more affordable and commonplace, families were keen to immortalize their new lifestyle (and possibly humble brag to The Jones' next door)."

"My generation (Generation X) came along, and we had 'real' cameras and developed prints, but also lived the transition to digital," Ed continued. "So, between us, this generational triumvirate accidentally became the creators – and keepers – of what was the printed, non-digital photographic memorabilia that tell the stories of our recent family ancestors."

"All of the stories and information are held in the brains of parents and grandparents, and if we don't record that information now, it will be lost forever," the photo expert shared. "We've all sat round and listened to Grandma say '...and that's your Great Aunty Mabel, she was an acrobat and married the ring master and ended up touring the continent', or something along those lines. Humans have been telling stories for centuries, and now is no different."

We also asked Ed what we can learn from these vintage photos. "So much! They're actually very different. And if you think about the difference between then and now, it's even more marked. We all have a camera in our pocket now. You could trip down some steps today, and several people have captured it, shared it on WhatsApp and posted it on Instagram. Every single photo back then was planned, or at least thought through and more thoughtful; just by the very nature of having to have had a camera with you (not common), having a roll of film, and having a spare exposure in order to take a shot in the first place," he told Bored Panda.

"That's why funny, unexpected and random events in old photos always seem so much more magical to me," Ed continued. "The odds of capturing that moment were infinitesimally smaller than now. Photographs cost money to take as well. Buying the camera, buying the film, developing the film. You'd didn't just shoot randomly, willy-nilly. Which, thankfully, means less photos of food, and certainly less selfies! So in a way, it's a more honest snapshot throughout time. Because it was more real."

But Ed doesn't necessarily think it's a good thing that it's so easy to take photos today. "I don't know anybody who doesn't think it's ridiculous, the number of photos we now have amassed on our phones," he shared. "We ran a straw poll recently, and the average was 23,000. What are you even going to do with all those? Which ones are people using or doing anything meaningful with? If you're organized, you might order a print of a super-special one, or print a photo book to commemorate an event like a holiday or birthday. But it's a fairly rare that people are that organized."

In fact, Ed believes it's a real problem that so many of us have thousands upon thousands of photos. "How will people pass down those images to the future generations? There's likely quite a bit of sorting most people would want to do before they let anybody have full access to their entire digital camera roll. But when will we get around to that? Have people made provisions for allowing relatives access to their digital life? Some people might include passwords to their digital world in their will but not all."