GreenBkk Tech | Time-lapse aging videos buzz across the internet

Time-lapse aging videos buzz across the internet

By Damon Brown, Special to CNN

Natalie Starting's father began taking pictures of her just after her birth ten years ago. Now the pictures are complied into a video.

(CNN) -- Talk about planned parenting.

Just over a decade ago, a proud father began taking daily pictures of his daughter. Then, he kept it up almost every day until the girl, Natalie Starting, turned 10.

Now, the video collection that resulted is compressed into one minute, 25 seconds, making it the YouTube era's equivalent of the pencil mark on the kitchen wall every time your child grows an inch -- but much, much cooler.

More than 2.5 million people have watched Natalie's video, but age progression movies are almost as old as YouTube itself. A classic one from 2006, the 7 million-viewed "Girl takes pic of herself every day for three years," has a young woman compiling her daily photos into a minute-long slideshow. Another one from 2006, "Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years," has a crazy 17 million views.

What makes Natalie's case remarkable -- and others less so -- is that you actually see her changing and growing over time her video.

Let's face it. After puberty, people rarely change dramatically in appearance within a few months without some extreme circumstances (like, say, pregnancy!). Ten years of an adult might be interesting, but would almost never be as dramatic as a decade observing the average kid.

Years ago, British filmmaker Michael Apted began following a group of 7-year-old children and reconnected with them every seven years for "7 Up" film series. The groundbreaking documentaries show people evolving physically and mentally over the course of their lifetimes.

Now people are watching the physical process in super-fast-forward on the internet.

Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)