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
