Color Photos from 1939-43

Don't be silly. There was no color back then. Everything was black and white.
 
I missed them the first time around.

Absolutely fabulous.
Thanks for posting them the second time.
 
paximperium said:
Don't be silly. There was no color back then. Everything was black and white.
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I believed this firmly until I was six or seven years old according to my mother. I still think the 40's look weird in color, because 99.9% of the imagery from back then is in black and white.
 
Bikewer said:
Remarkable set of photos (from the Library of Congress) re-done from early color slides.

This is from the dawn of good color photography, and these are like a little window on the past....

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/
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These are very cool--thanks for sharing.

Was it really the "dawn" of good color photography, though? Have you seen the images taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in Russia from 1909-1915? (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/gorskii.html)

For example: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...-Gorskii-19.jpg/694px-Prokudin-Gorskii-19.jpg
 
Limbero said:
I believed this firmly until I was six or seven years old according to my mother. I still think the 40's look weird in color, because 99.9% of the imagery from back then is in black and white.
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I have even seen WW1 photos in colour. I watched a DVD about WW2 that was mainly home movies shot in colour.
 
rjh01 said:
I have even seen WW1 photos in colour. I watched a DVD about WW2 that was mainly home movies shot in colour.
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The History Channel had a series called "WWII in Color", the documentaries used only color film from that time.

As for these photos, I also missed them the first time around. They are so sharp and vivid, really nice...
 
Gawdzilla said:
Color film "left the laboratory" in 1898, according to Wiki.

There was also a "cottage industry" of tinting b&w negatives back then, IIRC. I accumulated a fair number for Prof. Robert's WWI class at Purdue.
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Not sure what you mean here, but they used to paint the negatives so that the positive photos were in colour. The National Gallery of Australia display several examples of these from early 20th century.
 
rjh01 said:
Not sure what you mean here, but they used to paint the negatives so that the positive photos were in colour. The National Gallery of Australia display several examples of these from early 20th century.
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Agreed. The pictures sold better in color. There was an impressive string of postcards I found particularly useful. This work was frequently done at home, thus the "cottage industry" remark.
 
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