As part of my never-ending research into Stoke Newington’s history, I always look for ways technology can bring history to life and specifically, make people better understand the change the area has underwent over the years.

I’ve used three techniques, mash-ups, slider and animations, to bring the past and present together to show the often dramatic transformation to streets and buildings as a result of 1920’s-1930’s road widening, urban redevelopment in the 1930’s, 1960’s and 1970’s or WW2 bomb damage to name just a few factors.

Photo Mashups

Photo mash-up merge old and present day by overlaying part of an old photo onto the present day view. I use Photoshop to match the angle of the photos and blend them together as much as possible to the overlay is seamless.

Slider

This interactive version enables people to explore the differences between the past and present by sliding the control in the middle in either direction to reveal more or less of either one of the images.

Animation

Similar to mash-ups, these are animated overlays that run in a loop and showing the transformation from one view to the other.