Colorized photos

Although we cannot get into the minds of the people waiting in a queue on a cold day in Chukotka, Soviet Union back in 1985 to get wine, or what the daredevil sky boys who built the Empire State Building in 1930-31 were thinking when balancing unsecured on the 88th floor, we can get a fairly good glimpse into the wonders of history.

It's amazing how much color can change the way you look at a photo.

It might come as a surprise, but it wasn't long after photography became widespread that experiments with color took place, creating vivid images which

Mark twain in color, circa 1900.

Tired of the endless series of black and white photos that were popular in the day, French banker Albert Kahn decided to do something about it. In 1909, he commissioned four photographers to take their cameras all around the world, and using Autochrome Lumière, to document in color what they saw.

Mervyn O'Gorman was an English engineer whose artistic interests turned him into one of the early pioneers of color photography. Using the Autochrome

The Liberation and the end of the war did not end the hardships of the Parisians. Rationing of bread continued until February 1948, and coffee, cooking

These are some of the earliest Autochrome photos showing the life in New York in the early 1900s. A Monday washing, New York City, 1900 ...

Eva and Heinz

Autochrome Lumiere made color photography more widely available than it had ever been before, providing a glimpse into life in the early 1900s.