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Christina In Red: Rare 1913 Color Photos Show How People Lived 100 Years Ago
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Christina In Red: Rare 1913 Color Photos Show How People Lived 100 Years Ago

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We imagine the past in black-and-white, but Mervyn O’Gorman was taking colorful photos using glass plates coated in potato starch in 1913. The technical name for this process is autochrome, and O’Gorman used it to take beautiful photos of his daughter Christina wearing red in the British countryside. As the vintage photos contain little to give their era away, they seem to be from no specific period; in fact, they almost weren’t taken at all.

These historical photos and the technology behind them are both curious side projects, neither of them being the primary invention or occupation of their authors. Autochrome was patented in 1903 by the Lumiere Brothers in France, who were most famous for their work with cinema; Mervyn O’Gorman, the one who took these old photos, is best known as a motoring pioneer and one of the greatest British aeronautical engineers of his time.

Mervin died in 1958. No details remain of Christina’s life, but Mervin’s 1913 historical pictures remain a beautiful example of what can happen by accident.

(h/t: petapixel)

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susanna.alsaeedi avatar
SusannaVesna
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These r beautiful photos, showing how natural & modest girls used 2b!

susanna.alsaeedi avatar
SusannaVesna
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a black&white photo of my great-great-great grandmother from 1907 Russian Empire! Ill never know the colour of her dress! :(

bluemoonkina avatar
DanielaBlueMoonBoal
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can't do it but maybe you can find someone to work on that photo for you. Search the internet, there are ways to find the colour in b/w

Load More Replies...
harmlesshamster avatar
HarmlessHamster
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is how women are supposed to look. Just give me a normal looking woman who is more interested in people than their iPhones.

exilio avatar
exilio
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem too emo and thin...I don't think it's just the color.

profd1 avatar
Daniel Dannen
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are very famous photos, you idiot. Their authenticity is not in doubt.

Load More Replies...
seancormac avatar
SeanCormac
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i find it very hard to believe that these are genuinely that old. so many questionable aspects. styling? manicured lawn? hair style/time per

jasonr avatar
MaxSteele
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This mystery was solved 3 years ago https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/christina-mystery-beautiful-102-year-old-colour-portraits-solved

harmlesshamster avatar
HarmlessHamster
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is how women are supposed to look. When women go all out with fake stuff on and act like the horrid stars they emulate, it saddens me.

exilio avatar
exilio
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem contemporary...I don't think it's just the color. Too emo?

profd1 avatar
Daniel Dannen
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Educate yourself, dummy. These are famous photos that were taken at the stated time.

Load More Replies...
juliebraunscheidel avatar
JulieBraunscheidel
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't think these pictures are real to clear and they definetly didn't have colored film!

simonjones avatar
Simon Jones
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Shackleton expedition to the South Pole, departing in 1914, had colour film. The colour photos are available if you Google for it.

Load More Replies...
rachel_scroccaro avatar
Rachel
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Romantic and eerie. Beautiful and mysterious. I love them.

susanna.alsaeedi avatar
SusannaVesna
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These r beautiful photos, showing how natural & modest girls used 2b!

susanna.alsaeedi avatar
SusannaVesna
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a black&white photo of my great-great-great grandmother from 1907 Russian Empire! Ill never know the colour of her dress! :(

bluemoonkina avatar
DanielaBlueMoonBoal
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can't do it but maybe you can find someone to work on that photo for you. Search the internet, there are ways to find the colour in b/w

Load More Replies...
harmlesshamster avatar
HarmlessHamster
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is how women are supposed to look. Just give me a normal looking woman who is more interested in people than their iPhones.

exilio avatar
exilio
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem too emo and thin...I don't think it's just the color.

profd1 avatar
Daniel Dannen
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are very famous photos, you idiot. Their authenticity is not in doubt.

Load More Replies...
seancormac avatar
SeanCormac
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i find it very hard to believe that these are genuinely that old. so many questionable aspects. styling? manicured lawn? hair style/time per

jasonr avatar
MaxSteele
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This mystery was solved 3 years ago https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/christina-mystery-beautiful-102-year-old-colour-portraits-solved

harmlesshamster avatar
HarmlessHamster
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is how women are supposed to look. When women go all out with fake stuff on and act like the horrid stars they emulate, it saddens me.

exilio avatar
exilio
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem contemporary...I don't think it's just the color. Too emo?

profd1 avatar
Daniel Dannen
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Educate yourself, dummy. These are famous photos that were taken at the stated time.

Load More Replies...
juliebraunscheidel avatar
JulieBraunscheidel
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't think these pictures are real to clear and they definetly didn't have colored film!

simonjones avatar
Simon Jones
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Shackleton expedition to the South Pole, departing in 1914, had colour film. The colour photos are available if you Google for it.

Load More Replies...
rachel_scroccaro avatar
Rachel
Community Member
8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Romantic and eerie. Beautiful and mysterious. I love them.

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