OT: Rare color photo's depression/WWII era

[wierdscience]

Some really nice pictures-


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...epression.html

[recoilless]

Some really nice pictures-


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...epression.html

Some really good shots, look at the faces of those homesteaders.

Ran across this site over the weekend, somewhat similar:

http://www.shorpy.com/shorpy , the namesake of the site is a sad story.

[fciron]

Lots of good photos like this on Shorpy.com and at the US Library of Congress flickr stream.

The WPA send some folks out with with 4x5" colour sheet film and the same stuff was used to 'document' the war effort in the 40s.

[aostling]

Three or four of those photos were taken at Pie Town, New Mexico. That was the last region in the lower 48 to be settled, and it remains almost unpopulated today. But there is a good pie shop there, worth a stop if you are traveling on US60.

[radkins]

That one of the field being plowed in NE Tennessee was along the Powell river in Claiborne county TN.

[sasquatch]

Interesting great clear photos of a time many never saw.

Thanks for such an interesting posting, Much enjoyed!!

[bborr01]

I notoced bare feet on some of the children in the pics.

Those were some very tough times.

Brian

[drof34]

I was born in jan 34 in south Georgia, so I remember some of those times.

We had no electricity or plumbing. Water came from a hand dug well, a bucket at a time. Momma cooked on a wood stove and washed clothes out in the yard using a scrubboard and washpot (cauldron) full of hot water with a fire under it . The only heat we had was from one fireplace and yes we took a crap either in the woods or in the proverbial outhouse. We took a bath once a week in a #5 washtub.

We really didn't think we had it so bad because everybody in that neck of the woods was in the same boat. In fact that sorta seems like good times, but I'll leave it there.

Jim

[Lew Hartswick]

I was born in jan 34 in south Georgia, so I remember some of those times.

We had no electricity or plumbing. Water came from a hand dug well, a bucket at a time. Momma cooked on a wood stove and washed clothes out in the yard using a scrubboard and washpot (cauldron) full of hot water with a fire under it . The only heat we had was from one fireplace and yes we took a crap either in the woods or in the proverbial outhouse. We took a bath once a week in a #5 washtub.

We really didn't think we had it so bad because everybody in that neck of the woods was in the same boat. In fact that sorta seems like good times, but I'll leave it there.

Jim

I can relate to that. Born 32, raised in the sticks of central PA ,
no electric till after WWII, no plumbing, water from a cistern, outhouse (a two holer), walked about a mile to the buss stop.
wood/coal cookstove and a Heatrola in the "living room". :-)

<Three or four of those photos were taken at Pie Town, New Mexico.>
Been through there a few times, not much to see, didn't stop for pie. :-)
...lew...

[.RC.]

Why is it in today's world it is rare to see pictures with such vivid colours?

I know these are kodachrome pictures but we seem not to be able to reproduce them today...

[Weston Bye]

Why is it in today's world it is rare to see pictures with such vivid colours?

I know these are kodachrome pictures but we seem not to be able to reproduce them today...

In today's world we strive for accuracy. The colors on those photos are vivid and pleasing, but not accurate. Photos like that, taken today, would be criticized as "tinkered with" or "Photoshopped".

When I was young, I thought of the past as black and white - kind of like the Kansas film footage in the Wizard of Oz - from photos from the period. Particularly dreary were the WW1 and WW2 photos and films. Black and white and shades of grey, the perfect environment for men to fight and die. The few color photos and films seemed unreal to me - men shouldn't die under a clear blue sky.

[wierdscience]

Why is it in today's world it is rare to see pictures with such vivid colours?

I know these are kodachrome pictures but we seem not to be able to reproduce them today...

I think partly the same reason subject matter and focus.The best pictures seem to mirror the human eye's ability to not only focus sight on the subject,but also attention on the subject.

This famous shot.even though in B&W and even though digital reproduction doesn't do it justice gives an idea of what I mean.The subject is Joe DiMaggio connecting on a home run,everything else is there,the field,the fans and the stands,but the focus is on the single instant in time.

[Evan]

Why is it in today's world it is rare to see pictures with such vivid colours?

I know these are kodachrome pictures but we seem not to be able to reproduce them today...

Kodachrome was the best slide film ever made. The colours are highly saturated without blowing out. Unfortunately, it was very expensive to process as the machines that did it were 100 feet long. It took many steps, all very precisely controlled, to develop. It was also a very fussy film to use with no tolerance for under or over exposure. It couldn't be compensated during developing so you had to get it right in the camera.

Colour photography has been around for a long time. There is no specific "first" colour photo but there are colour images from the 1860s.

[ZINOM]

Those photos are great...I'm sure I looked at them for a longer time just to absorb the color after having seen so many similar photos (era-wise) in B&W.

The one of the A-20 looks just like a well done model diorama...I like it

John

[fciron]

In addition to the beauty of Kodachrome, those images were shot with cameras that used 4x5" sheet film, a larger negative is analogous to better resolution. I haven't run the math, but I bet a negative that size would be something like a 50 megapixel digital camera, which I'm not even sure they make yet.

A lot of the color photos were posed/staged so they could do a longer exposure which helps with color saturation and depth of field.

I also think the fact that we have become used to seeing hundreds of lousy snapshots of every single moment being taken by folks with phone cameras and before that cheap point-and-shoot cameras has dulled out sense of what's really possible in photography. Sounds like I'm getting old.