WW1 Colour Photos

French soldiers receiving a haircut, c.1916

Colour photography was first invented in around 1903, and by 1907 the Lumiere brothers had were able to produce reliable colour images that were almost every bit as good as their monochrome equivalents on the first ever colour film. Unbelievably, a small number of colour photos were subsequently shot on this new film. They are - to my knowledge - entirely French in origin.

There is a remarkable archive assembled at http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/ where the author has painstakingly collected together colour images from the First World War. None of them are "action" photos (indeed, few WW1 photos are) but they are striking images of the conflict as I had never seen it before. One of the most poignant images I found in the archive is this:

Senegalese and other French African Colonial Soldiers

That these men should have been photographed at all is quite remarkable - I find it even more so to see such an image in colour.

Mr. Tilling's Hansom

Mr. Tilling's Hansom
Originally uploaded by The National Archives UK

I particularly enjoyed this image of a 19th century Hansom Cab, waiting outside Greenwich station in London. Notice the "First Class Ladies Waiting Rooms" in the background.

The photo itself isn't of any great merit, artistically, but even simple photographs from the 19th century can say so much about how our ancestors lived.

Shorpy

I've just added a link to Shorpy - a historic photographic archive chronicling American life from the 1850's to the 1950's. It's an amazing blog, well worthy of the widespread recognition it receives. The images are largely taken from the Library of Congress archives and cover an extensive range of topics. They also sell prints of the images.

The motto of Shorpy is "Always Something Interesting" - a conclusion I wholeheartedly agree with.

Masters of Photography

I like looking back at historical photographs - particularly those that depict some element of life in past times. One of my favourite collections of old images is at http://www.masters-of-photography.com/ (see the link in the bar on the right). There are images from the earliest photographers, such as Fox Talbot, right up to comparatively modern works. Whenever I see a name in a magazine - "See works by Lee Friedlander", for example, you can go to the site and 9 times out of 10, they have a selection of images by that particular master. It's a great way in to a basic understanding of master works.

Open Door - William Fox Talbot (1844)

With the early masters, I find it fascinating how artistically proficient some of the photos are. Not only were they technical pioneers, they established guidelines and "rules" for future photographers. The image above wouldn't look out of place in a modern amateur photography magazine - so it is all the more remarkable that it was taken 165 years ago.