116 Of The Oldest Color Photos Showing What The World Looked Like 100 Years Ago
When you think of old photos or historical pictures, you naturally think in terms of black and white, but as you can see from these stunning vintage photos from the turn of the 20th century, color pictures have been around for a lot longer than you think.
Before 1907, if you wanted a color photograph then you (well, a professional colorist) basically had to color it in using different dyes and pigments, but two French brothers called Auguste, and Louis Lumière revolutionized all that with a game-changing process that they called the Autochrome Lumière. Using dyed grains of potato starch and light-sensitive emulsion, they were able to produce color in vintage photography without the need for additional colorization. Despite being difficult to manufacture and also somewhat expensive, the process was very popular among amateur photographers, and one of the world's first books of color photography was published using the Autochrome Lumière technique.
The brothers revolutionized the world of color photography until Kodak took things to a whole new level with the invention of Kodachrome film in 1935, a lighter and more convenient alternative that quickly made the Autochrome Lumière obsolete (although its popularity continued in France up until the 1950s). Kodachrome was also eventually overtaken by the rise of digital photography (Kodak stopped manufacturing Kodachrome in 2009), which is now by far the world's most popular way to take pictures, but modern advances in photographic technology wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of early pioneers like Auguste and Louis Lumière. Scroll down for a collection of stunning historical photos in color using their groundbreaking technique.
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Flower Street Vendor, Paris, 1914
Heinz And Eva On The Hillside, 1925
The Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1914
Wow! This photo is most remarkable for the shot of the old Trocadero palace, seen through the tower's arch! It hasn't been there for 80 years.
A Girl Holds A Doll Next To Soldiers' Equipment In Reims, France, 1917
Among The First Coloured Pictures Ever Taken By Louis Lumière, 1907
Young Girl Amidst Marguerites, C. 1912
Autochrome Of Mark Twain, 1908
Christina In Red, 1913
Eva And Heinz On The Shore Of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, C. 1927
Sweden, Near Gagnef (Mother And Daughter In Traditional Clothes), 1910
Else Reading By The Nile, 1920
Woman And Girl By A Brook, 1910
Autochrome Of Else Paneth On A Camel, 1913
...and possibly a whole family of unnamed people. Why are dolls accompanying white girls mentioned, but not black people accompanying Paneths - even in the vaguest of terms?
Japan, Kyoto, 1912
The girl in the middle... for a split second I thought her obi belt was see through
Mother Of Seven Making Fringes For Knitted Shawls, Galway, Ireland, 29 May 1913
Louis Lumière's Daughter And Her Dolls, 1913
Lanchester 38hp Tourer, 1913
Porte Saint Denis, Paris, 1914
Giant Oranges,paris, 1914
Very interesting. I thought they only did weird inflatable stuff recently!
Egypt, Giza, 1913
They were right : the old egyptians did remodel the head to a pharaoh's head and it was probably a lions head first. Compare the erosion of the body with that of the head.
Galway, Ireland 1 May 1913
An Autochrome Of Etheldreda Janet Laing Daughter In A Garden, Holding A Brightly Coloured Bunch Of Pink Flowers, 1908
Mongolia, Near Ulaanbaatar (Buddhist Lama), 1913
Traditional Irish Knitwear, An Spidéal, Galway, Ireland 1 May 1913 (Left), 14 Year Old Girl From The Claddagh Wearing Traditional Claddagh Dress. Galway, Ireland, 26th May 1913 (Right)
Lunch Of A French Soldier In Front Of A Damaged Library, 1st April 1917
in french "librairie" is a bookstore, so it's a mistake very current
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Metro, Paris, 1914
They had no idea what they were getting into...Maybe that hungover guy in the front did.
The Family At The Lake, 1925
Hey, isn't this again our Eva and Heinz on vocation in the Alps? Not just some nameless "a family" ))
Palace Of Horticulture, Pan American Exposition, 1915
Autochrome Of A Young Girl, 1910
Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1914
strange how this one is totally different from the other one from the Moulin Rouge from 1914... Look at the building left 19141578_1...8b9208.jpg 
The Younger Girl Stands Beside Her Sister Holding A Pink Parasol. The Older Girl Rests Her Bonnet On Her Lap, 1908
