The digital revolution puts color back into the past

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday November 26, 2022 · 5:00 PM PST

2022/11/26 · 17:00

no image description available — An actual color photo of 1950s Havana

Happy holidays! With the advent of higher digital resolutions and more affordable access to digital editing technology, photography has become one of the most degraded and the most elevated artistic places for creativity. One of the great leaps in digital technology has been the ability to restore old photography. Being able to clean up scratched or eroded negatives or prints, ripped memories in picture books has never been easier. In line with restoration have come various creative folks and businesses that use their powers to colorize old black-and-white imagery.

One Twitter account I like to look at to get away from some of the noise of the political sphere is “Colorized pics.” The account pulls from digital creator accounts that focus on colorizing like sebcolorisation, Marina Amaral, pixelperfectrestorations, melodie_colors_the_past, and Cassowary Colorizations.

Since the photos go back to the earliest photo imagery from the late 1800s, many of the images include historical figures and war photography. I am of two minds about colorizing work that was created knowing it would be produced in black-and-white, but there is something fun and revitalizing about seeing still imagery from the past brought to color. It gives our brains a chance to break out of the structures we have all built up over the years of seeing old photos only in black-and-white.

Different colorists take different liberties with how they go about coloring. Some use more saturation, while others rely on more muted tones. Some like to highlight eyes or aspects of images, apply different levels of skin tone, makeup, and highlights. In any event, I hope you enjoy!

There are lush images.

Two boys playing and sitting outside, Chicago, Illinois, 1941, Photo: Russel Lee, Credit: @sebcolorisation pic.twitter.com/eMWwFypbdU
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 8, 2022

Bright images.

American servicemen in an entertainment booth outside Camp Stewart near Hinesville, Georgia, 1941, Photo: Jack Delano, Credit: @sebcolorisation pic.twitter.com/UsyvaGdo53
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 8, 2022

Whose birthday is this? I think I know.

American poet Robert Frost on his 85th birthday, Photo: Walter Albertin, Credit: Photomyne pic.twitter.com/gPT3pyKPeg
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 7, 2022

Images from a time before any of us were born. Like 1904!

A lady named Miss Hofsten shooting a Swedish M/87 Revolver Cal. 7.5mm with Captain Adlercreutz watching, Västergötland, Sweden, 1904, Credit: @julius.colorization pic.twitter.com/KGrgGHxumS
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 10, 2022

1890!

A young lady farmer from Antwerpe, Belgium, 1890, Credit: RDB Colors - History in Color pic.twitter.com/hnLmG0VwP7
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 21, 2022

At the beach, Blankenberge, Belgium, 1890s, Photo: Arnold Vanderhaeghen, Credit: RDB Colors pic.twitter.com/ZESq1KrssF
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 21, 2022

Artsy, artsy kids… who would be like 130 years old today.

Three people posing for the camera in front of Villa Solhelm, including Ragnar Nyberg (right), whose family owned the villa, Helsinki, Finland, 1917, Credit: @julius.colorization pic.twitter.com/TfgnRsjN6S
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 11, 2022

Some things change, and some things stay the same.

Alantic Beach, Long Island, New York, 1947, Credit: @richland1254 pic.twitter.com/D9f4yholba
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 11, 2022

Prospector and his log cabin, Pike's Peak, Colorado, circa 1900 pic.twitter.com/NEmsnssbyN
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 13, 2022

And, as always, war.

German prisoners and French soldiers with gas masks on, Chemin des Dames, France, 1917, Credit: @melodie_colors_the_past pic.twitter.com/J4eNtwhuUY
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 26, 2022

Soldier bandaging the paw of a Red Cross working dog, Flanders, Belgium, 1917, Credit: @australian_history_colourised pic.twitter.com/447LjV9PHZ
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 27, 2022

The survivors of war.

World War I amputees at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, 1918, Credit: @jsk.colorization pic.twitter.com/IiYgy8Csku
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 16, 2022

Soviet bayonet training, 1940, Credit: @history_and_colorization pic.twitter.com/iCT7qOV0IZ
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 19, 2022

Australian soldiers, accompanied by local children, drawing water from the village pump at Fleurbaix, France, 1916, Credit: WW1 Colourised Photos pic.twitter.com/S02jqTS6Ea
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 26, 2022

Winston Churchill leaning into President Roosevelt's car to greet him after arriving for the Quebec conference in Canada, 1944, Credit: DBColour pic.twitter.com/WXdMbsHpBw
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 14, 2022

U.S Marines under enemy fire during the Battle of Saipan, also referred to as the "Pacific D-Day," 1944, Credit: Marina Amaral - Photo Colorization pic.twitter.com/IJNbcIYJNX
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 24, 2022

Consequences of war.

Lt. Richard K. Jones of Hollywood, California, feeding Japanese children found in a tomb 50 yards from the front line, Okinawa, 1945, Credit: @rishicolors pic.twitter.com/cNvp7tkzXa
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 11, 2022

Anne Frank, Credit: Photomyne pic.twitter.com/ZzjtDWi0tF
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 23, 2022

An artist who lived with a lot of pain.

Frida Kahlo in a hospital bed at an English hospital, 1953, Credit: @lorenzofolli_history_in_color pic.twitter.com/3vbYEAcuON
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 21, 2022

Another person who lived with a lot of pain.

Future President John F. Kennedy, photographed after his graduation from Harvard, 1940, Credit: Mads Madsen pic.twitter.com/NJDty9MGOQ
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 19, 2022

What some politicians would call early caravans.

Italian immigrants in Ellis Island, New York, 1905, Photo: Lewis Hine, Credit: History Images pic.twitter.com/z6w6V8dQq5
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 17, 2022

And images of the people who were here before Europeans showed up.

Members of Buffalo Bill's Troupe in Edmonton, Alberta, 1914, Credit: History Images pic.twitter.com/vlt8lFGVyK
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 18, 2022

An Ojibwe Native American spearfishing, Minnesota, 1908, Credit: u/Captain-Cliche pic.twitter.com/32dHZsvoN2
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 27, 2022

Walking Caribou, Nakoda Nation, Credit: Marina Amaral - Photo Colorization pic.twitter.com/7N96UkJjAa
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 5, 2022

Colorized photo of a Native American (Inuit/Eskimo) woman and her child, Nunivak, Alaska, 1927, Credit: @pixelperfectrestorations pic.twitter.com/PDEdwuWxjI
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 13, 2022

Pah Toi, Taos Native Indian, 1905, Credit: History Images pic.twitter.com/e6d2KgwIlM
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 17, 2022

Here is an image of what Democrats like FDR tried to fix.

Resettled farm child from Taos Junction to Bosque Farms project, New Mexico, Dust Bowl, 1935, Credit: @jordanjlloydhq pic.twitter.com/ZlxWCof4iu
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 13, 2022

Children of miners looking out the kitchen window of their home that has no window panes and no door frames, with old quilts and boxes being used during the winter for protection, Kentucky, 1946, Photo: Russell Lee, Credit: José Gades pic.twitter.com/UWebFLSD5x
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 15, 2022

Drought refugees in California during the Dust Bowl, Photo: Dorothea Lange, 1936, Credit: History Images pic.twitter.com/ZTkVs08Hcq
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 29, 2022

And imagery of the world clearly lost to our collective memory.

Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1863, Photo: Timothy O'Sullivan, Credit: @jordanjlloydhq pic.twitter.com/CL6jEz32y8
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 13, 2022

Times Square looks a little different these days.

Sculpture of Father Duffy (by Sculptor Charles Keck) still wrapped up, Times Square, New York, 1937. Father Duffy was a New York Army National Guard chaplain decorated for his service with the 69th Infantry Regiment during World War I. Photo: Peter Sekaer, Credit: Avzam pic.twitter.com/hCEnEavplV
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 13, 2022

Portland also looks a little different these days—even if the beards and mustaches are the same.

Portland, Oregon, 1900, Credit: Heather Lagaso pic.twitter.com/jwgHATON7Y
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 16, 2022

Café “In Den Molen” Antwerp, Belgium, 1900, Credit: RDB Colors - History in Color pic.twitter.com/z6QDlgQcDi
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 29, 2022

View of Hanoi Street, Vietnam, 1890, Credit: @vietnam_history_in_color pic.twitter.com/OvsVlK6iSc
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 12, 2022

Here’s the original “it girl.”

Silent film actress Clara Bow as a baby, 1906, Credit: Gabriel Soares pic.twitter.com/WSPAdc6qUH
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 11, 2022

A tough mind.

William Chester Minor, Yale grad, US Army surgeon, and lexicographer. Moved to England after the Civil War, was suffering from paranoid delusions, committed to Broadmoor Insane Asylum, and began writing for the Oxford English Dictionary, 1900, Credit: @pixelperfectrestorations pic.twitter.com/HBT3LyZEbh
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 6, 2022

Some things change, and some things stay the same.

Young man with "Vote" painted on his forehead walking in the Selma March, Selma, Alabama, 1965, Credit: @jsk.colorization pic.twitter.com/m68cU6C661
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 6, 2022

Mark Twain.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, "the father of American literature", New York, NY, 1907, Photo: A. F. Bradley, Credit: @pixelperfectrestorations pic.twitter.com/4qbNbIoIhQ
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 14, 2022

Mark Twain and his long-time friend John T. Lewis, the inspiration for the character "Jim" in "Huckleberry Finn," New York, 1903, Credit: Marina Amaral - Photo Colorization pic.twitter.com/6yATb4q8oO
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 4, 2022

One of the people chronicling our human condition.

World War I veteran and amateur photographer Thomas James Rodoni taking a self-portrait, Credit: @colorized__history pic.twitter.com/944qyckF75
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) October 3, 2022

Some things change...

Henryka "Heniuta" Wieczorek, a member of the Polish Underground Resistance on the Last Day of the Warsaw Uprising, 1944, Credit: History Images pic.twitter.com/UYqSFn12zE
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 30, 2022

Siam was renamed Thailand in 1939. Prince Chulalongkorn would have been about 12 years old when this photo was taken. He would ascend to the throne three years after this image was captured. Prince Chulalongkorn would implement a series of reforms between 1874 and 1900 to abolish slavery in his country.

Siamese Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, 1865, Photo: John Thomson, Credit: ManCave Pictures pic.twitter.com/0IMj5w2vlA
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 14, 2022

Hound puppy.

Elvis and his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley, 1937, Credit: @lorenzofolli_history_in_color pic.twitter.com/KDu2ktxs93
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) September 12, 2022

We could do this forever! Let’s end with this image from over 100 years ago of an electric car.

Charging the battery of an electric automobile, 1919, Credit: @color_byangelina pic.twitter.com/Xm2f8zcNxq
— Colorized (@colorized_pics) November 12, 2022

The digital revolution puts color back into the past

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