Color photos from WWI...

[SoCalDem]

These take a long time to load, but are quite something..


http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=211833&messageid=1088370788&lp=1088%20381193

[Catch22Dem]

1. WOW

Those are incredible. Were they retouched digitally? They look great.

ON EDIT: Ahh, when I scrolled down I see where they have indeed been colorized. They're quite impressive

[SoCalDem]

2. That I don't know... These days it's hard to tell

but the pics are quite good..

[SoCalDem]

3. Just found the real link to them they are colorized..but still

they a original French archives which have been digitally colourised.

link..

http://www.culture.gouv.fr

[Bridget Burke]

4. The original link explains the process--the colors are real....

The Lumiere brothers, pioneers of film, also invented a method of color photography. Go to the bottom of the page:

THE HISTORY OF THE AUTOCHROME
Louis Lumière had already invented instant photographic plates and the Cinematographe when, in late 1903, he and his brother Auguste patented a new process for producing colour photographs : the Autochrome.

Before the invention of the Autochrome, colours were separated using a complex three-colour process whereby three successive exposures had to be taken and then superimposed onto each other. Louis Lumière, however, devised a method of filtering light by using a single three-colour screen made up of millions of grains of potato starch dyed in three different colours. This mixture was then laid out on a varnished glass plate, which would be ready for use once it was coated in a black and white emulsion. Developing the plate entailed applying the same process as was used for black and white photographs at the time, with the impression being processed to reversal.

As with pointillist painting, the colour effect is rendered by viewing the image in its entirety, since the colours are created from the juxtaposition of the multitude of dots; indeed, the essential charm of these photographs derives from that very juxtaposition.

Finally, in 1907, after years of work, the Autochrome was launched onto the market and met with immediate and longlasting success – it was to be another thirty years before anything else came along to compete with it, and that was when chemical colour processes were devised to do on film what this delicate transparency process did on glass.

The pictures are wonderful & make the war more "real".

[dbt]

5. Are you a stranger without even a name,

Enclosed forever behind a glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn, and battered and stained,
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The Green Fields of France aka Willie Mcbride by Eric Bogle

:cry:
dbt

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Accompanying article

Autochromes 1914 - 1918, Exposition photographique à l`Arc de triomphe

If you read French, or can use an on-line translator, this article will give you more of the details.

Unfortunately, I can't find any way into the directory that isn't blocked by restrictive permissions policies.

The whole Ministry of Culture website is an incredible resource for anyone interested in the cultures of France and the world at large -- as well as for students of the language.

--le pigwidgeón!

[izzie]

7. Those are interesting

Has any one seen the pictures that the Brits have found? They have been in the papers, about the find.. Pre WW1. I read a while ago that they are still shutting up fields they used in WW1 because of bombs. It may have been on Achtung Panzer but it was a few months ago I read it so I may be wrong.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

8. Absolutely amazing

:)

[KurtNYC]

9. Though less than 100 years ago

they seem to evoke a whole other world. There is something oddly romantic about the uniforms and mustaches, the thatched roofs and the whole look.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[benburch]

10. More on this...

http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-color.html

[TyeDye75]

11. There have been a few documentaries on WW1

over here recently that have had the odd bit off colour film.

[SoCalDem]

16. WWI was such a sad war.. (all of them are, but it especially)

I think it was the first war where machines really came into action, and the medical treatment for the horrible wounds was way behind the curve..and it didn't even secure much of a peace..or accomplish much at all.. Those soldiers came back to the poverty they had known before they went, and in a few years the depression smacked them down again:(

Even in school, they just skim right through it and hardly teach it at all:(

[arwalden]

12. Fascinating!

Thanks for posting this...and thanks for the additional links an info from everyone else.

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. Wow! Those are amazing.

I am still waiting on my cousin to send me a bunch of really old family photographs. I sent him some $ to have them copied.

I first saw them about 16 years ago at my great aunt and uncle's place. She was the first generation in the states. I had her mom and dad put on the wall at Ellis Island.

These photographs were amazing. At the time I couldn't speak German, so didn't know what they said, but they were of German soldiers in the field, with writing on the back. The one thing I did catch was "Verdun 1916."

I'm salivating to get copies of these pictures with copies of the original text on the back so I can translate them for the whole family to understand and enjoy.

I'm still trying to unearth my grandfather's origins in the old country, but it's been pretty difficult. My dad's side is much easier.

If I get the pictures anytime soon, I'll put them in photobucket for ya'll to see if you're interested.

FSC

[Bullwinkle925]

14. Wonderful link - thanks for sharing.

I found those pictures to be works of art. I always stare at the faces and wonder how their lives turned out.

I have black and white photos of my step-father during WWII. Wish they were in color.

[yardwork]

15. kick - these are amazing

[SoCalDem]

17. one last kick

:kick:

[TheMightyFavog]

18. This almost looks like a 1:35 Scale Model done by a pro.

[u4ic]

19. Wow...they gave me chills

thanks for posting them.