Colstan
Site Champ
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2021
- Posts
- 822
I'd like to introduce you to someone. Someone who took a few brief moments out of her day so that we could spend time with her right now.
I'd like you to meet Christina.
This picture was taken at the White Cliffs of Dover, in England.
That's Christina posing on the beach.
And next to a boat. She has strikingly blonde hair.
Here she is walking on the beach at Dover. I have walked on that same beach, myself, back when I lived in England.
Here she is with her younger sister and mother. Unlike them, I did not have a picnic.
Christina at a local garden.
She found...a shrubbery!
Another garden shot.
Why would I show you, my photography friends, these photographs? Me, who is very much not a photographer?
For that, we need some background on Christina. She's an ordinary English girl, she's not a model of any sort, at least as far as I know. These pictures were taken by a man named Mervyn O'Gorman. For some time, it was thought that Christina is his daughter, but in fact she is the daughter of a friend. I assume Mr. O'Gorman must have had a close relationship with her family, considering the number of snaps that she modeled for.
These are the only known photographs of Christina, that I am aware of. I don't know much else about her personal life. What I do know is that Christina did not have a short life, she did not die young. She passed away at the age of 84, having never married nor did she have any children.
You see, these photographs were taken in 1913. They are not colorized, they are entirely authentic, and could easily pass for a much more modern image. Christina was born in Harrow, on March 8th of 1897, yet here she remains, captured forever in time, all in living color.
They certainly look better than many photographs from the 80s and much of the 90s. I recall once hearing a photographer remarking that the reason that older photographs often look better than modern ones is that they had better lenses, back in the day, because it was a rare occurrence to have a photograph taken. They put effort into their pictures, cared about them, cherished them. Many folks only had their picture taken once in a lifetime.
The technical process used to create these color photographs is called autochrome. This involves taking a mosaic of potato starch which has been microscopically treated with three different layers, namely red, green, and blue additives, and layering that onto the plates used inside the camera. Red-Green-Blue (RGB) is the same spectroscopy that we use today.
Autochrome was extraordinarily expensive and complex. So, only those who were wealthy and technically-minded would have access to it. Mervyn O'Gorman was one such individual, and hence we have a visual record of Christina.
When our brains process photographs, black and white tends to subtract a sense of reality from them. When we witness something in full color, we understand that these were living, breathing people, with the same hopes, dreams, desires, and failings that we all have. Time changes, but people don't.
I don't know how much of this you are already aware of, being photographers, but when I came across it, I decided to share it. I'm sure most of you are aware of daguerreotype photography, but autochrome is new to me. Nor did I know that color photography of this quality was available in the early 1900s.
If you're already familiar with this, then sorry about the repetition. If not, I hope you enjoyed spending time with me and Christina.
I'd like you to meet Christina.
This picture was taken at the White Cliffs of Dover, in England.
That's Christina posing on the beach.
And next to a boat. She has strikingly blonde hair.
Here she is walking on the beach at Dover. I have walked on that same beach, myself, back when I lived in England.
Here she is with her younger sister and mother. Unlike them, I did not have a picnic.
Christina at a local garden.
She found...a shrubbery!
Another garden shot.
Why would I show you, my photography friends, these photographs? Me, who is very much not a photographer?
For that, we need some background on Christina. She's an ordinary English girl, she's not a model of any sort, at least as far as I know. These pictures were taken by a man named Mervyn O'Gorman. For some time, it was thought that Christina is his daughter, but in fact she is the daughter of a friend. I assume Mr. O'Gorman must have had a close relationship with her family, considering the number of snaps that she modeled for.
These are the only known photographs of Christina, that I am aware of. I don't know much else about her personal life. What I do know is that Christina did not have a short life, she did not die young. She passed away at the age of 84, having never married nor did she have any children.
You see, these photographs were taken in 1913. They are not colorized, they are entirely authentic, and could easily pass for a much more modern image. Christina was born in Harrow, on March 8th of 1897, yet here she remains, captured forever in time, all in living color.
They certainly look better than many photographs from the 80s and much of the 90s. I recall once hearing a photographer remarking that the reason that older photographs often look better than modern ones is that they had better lenses, back in the day, because it was a rare occurrence to have a photograph taken. They put effort into their pictures, cared about them, cherished them. Many folks only had their picture taken once in a lifetime.
The technical process used to create these color photographs is called autochrome. This involves taking a mosaic of potato starch which has been microscopically treated with three different layers, namely red, green, and blue additives, and layering that onto the plates used inside the camera. Red-Green-Blue (RGB) is the same spectroscopy that we use today.
Autochrome was extraordinarily expensive and complex. So, only those who were wealthy and technically-minded would have access to it. Mervyn O'Gorman was one such individual, and hence we have a visual record of Christina.
When our brains process photographs, black and white tends to subtract a sense of reality from them. When we witness something in full color, we understand that these were living, breathing people, with the same hopes, dreams, desires, and failings that we all have. Time changes, but people don't.
I don't know how much of this you are already aware of, being photographers, but when I came across it, I decided to share it. I'm sure most of you are aware of daguerreotype photography, but autochrome is new to me. Nor did I know that color photography of this quality was available in the early 1900s.
If you're already familiar with this, then sorry about the repetition. If not, I hope you enjoyed spending time with me and Christina.
