photos of ww1

[Pille1234]

Newly rediscovered colored photos from the french side of ww1 can be found here:

http://www.mediatheque-patrimoine.culture.gouv.fr/fr/archives_photo/visites_guidees/autochromes.html#2

I didn't know that color photos were already invented in 1915

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0085/sap01_cvl00208_p.jpg
http://mitglied.lycos.de/reddevilwhq/hpbimg/WHQ/wk1/wk1_5c.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0084/sap01_cvl00049_p.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0083/sap01_ca000508_p.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0083/sap01_ca000502_p.jpg

I add some more:
Général Antoine, commander first army
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0085/sap01_ca000700_p.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0084/sap01_cvl00136_p.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0084/sap01_cvl00134_p.jpg
German shells not detonated
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0084/sap01_cvl00031_p.jpg
with flowers on their desks, but still alive
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0085/sap01_cvl00196_p.jpg
he didn't make it
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0085/sap01_cvl00203_p.jpg

[Salty Dog]

?????????????????????? i'm baffled

[Macs.]

Err, they are re-colored.

[Pille1234]

no, not recolored. They were made as color photos. But it was very difficult and long-winded, thats why you won't find 'action' photos.

As you can read on the page, color photography (en couleurs naturelles) was invented in 1903. Or maybe you can't read it, my french isn't the best either.

[Dalleer]

Heh, I'll always remember what "Gott strafe England" meant after a rather funny episode at school long time ago...

[Roger Rabbit]

What was that then?

Great photos by the way.

[James]

Here's a link to some more.

http://www.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/photos/greatwar.htm

[Marxist203]

World War 1 from an observers stand point is one of the most interesting wars in history. Back then the commanders and the people involved were so naive as to the realities of warfare, the codes of honour and everything else they practiced. It was truly the end of a great era...I think they should bring back the hats they wore in the old days man! bring a little bit of flash back to the Modern Age.

Carbineri wear capes and feathers on their helmets man...really, the military would be much cooler if they brought a little bit of the old traditions back to the uniforms.

[Roger Rabbit]

These would be the traditions that got so many killed?

[Haiw]

Carbineri wear capes and feathers on their helmets man...really, the military would be much cooler if they brought a little bit of the old traditions back to the uniforms.
they still got the featers :)

[ShotOver]

Very interesting pictures, i am really interested in world war one, and spend alot of time looking for combat pictures and footage on the internet, but most searches turn up with zilch.

Any of you have any other preferably english sites with combat footage, or pictures?

[Seoulstriker]

Very interesting pictures, i am really interested in world war one, and spend alot of time looking for combat pictures and footage on the internet, but most searches turn up with zilch.

Any of you have any other preferably english sites with combat footage, or pictures?

i agree.

more for me is the realism. it really changes your perception of things when you see them in color. it seems so much more real.

a good program is 'The Color of War' on the History Channel: WWII in color!

[ShotOver]

Yeah, color makes it look so much more real.

I would LOVE to see some color film from world war one, it would be simply amazing.

I saw that show, it had letters from soldiers and wifes, and all that... and alot of footage and pictures, was a great show.

[Marxist203]

These would be the traditions that got so many killed?

I dont think a flashy dress uniform would get a man killed...or for that matter a cape in battle, I guess you could camouflage the cape. Tactics stay the same and all...but the uniforms can be spruced up in my opinion p-) Big hats are cool!

[HumanShield]

ohh how times have changed...

[ShotOver]

The Australian Light horse Division, which is now a Reserve Mech division, still has the Old hat and long white fether in their dress uniform/parade unifrom... so some old traditions stay the same.

[HumanShield]

tradition yes....tactics no

[Uncle Chô]

Amazing...

This site is simply amazing. It is worth a visit. There are hundreds of "colour" pictures to see !!

From the link, go to the right "Access to images" then click on the French region (Aisnes / Haut-Rhin etc) and " Par auteur " (by authors).

The captions explain the 4 photographers were official military reporters that took the photos for propaganda use, showing people but also the damages. They had enough time and authorization to look for the best shooting angles.

And yes, the colour "photographic plate" called "autochrome" was processed using potatoes starch (don't ask me :) ). It was then a brand new technic invented by the Lumière Brothers in 1903 (the Lumiere Brothers are worldwide famous because they made in 1895 the first "real" movie film, using improved technics from Edison and Eastman). The "autochrome" is considered as the ancester of the modern colour slides.

[Loco]

Beautiful photos, in some way you feel sad looking at them. The girl´s photo could be taken perfectly 30 years later in the same place, only this time the girl would be her daughter.

[Dave the Dawg]

Austro-Hungarian Army prisoners of war held by the Russians:

http://toosvanholstein.nl/greatwar/kleur/austrianpow.jpg

Russian patrol on the Murmansk railway:

http://toosvanholstein.nl/greatwar/kleur/handcar.jpg

Back to B&W, the true face of the First World War (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT):

http://www.geocities.com/~worldwar1/picnic/trueface.html

(click on each picture for the next; not for the faint of heart)

[Andyman]

I know you say that those photos were actually done in colour however they do to me look a little sharp considering the camera technology at the time. I mean it wasnt even 1/2 a century old yet those pics are in colour and they look as sharp if not sharper than the few colour images that were done inWWII. It doesn;t really add up for me sorry :|

[Uncle Chô]

I know you say that those photos were actually done in colour however they do to me look a little sharp considering the camera technology at the time. I mean it wasnt even 1/2 a century old yet those pics are in colour and they look as sharp if not sharper than the few colour images that were done inWWII. It doesn;t really add up for me sorry
To Fox Mulder " I want to believe " Andyman :

The linked site for the WWI pictures is from an official French Government agency. This is no BS.
;)

If you want to know more about the "autochrome" and more evidences...

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/lumiere.htm

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/autochro.htm

http://www.holonet.khm.de/visual_alchemy/lumiere.html

[Pille1234]

I read about these pictures in a German Newspaper and they are offically published by the French government, so they are real.

Maybe they look that sharp because the exposure time was longer than 10 sec.


...or it's another franco-german conspiracy rofl

[Loco]

I know you say that those photos were actually done in colour however they do to me look a little sharp considering the camera technology at the time. I mean it wasnt even 1/2 a century old yet those pics are in colour and they look as sharp if not sharper than the few colour images that were done inWWII. It doesn;t really add up for me sorry :|
Actually, photography in colour was being investigated by different people at the end of XIX and beginning of XX century in many ways, with good results, so in the IWW it was perfectly possible taking photos in colour, althoug they were of course quite expensive. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a spanish medical investigator, was very interested in photography for using it to take pictures of his testings with the microscope in the lab, but his was fond of photography as a hobby too. He developed by himself a method of colour photography and wrote a book about it in 1910 titled "La fotografía de los colores". He patented his method and received commercial propositions of Afga, in Germany, who by that date was of course working in the same field, but money wasn´t his first priority in that moment. This colour photo was taken in 1912, and as you see the colour are enough strong 91 years after,
http://cajal.unizar.es/foto/img/f48.jpg
Although Ramón y Cajal didn´t took colour photos with the microscope in the lab, he mainly used his method for his spare time, naked women and other beautiful matters of life p-)

[Andyman]

I'm completely baffled. I took a photography and they said that colour film was not used until around the mid 1930's by the french. And then the germans didnt acquire it until they had invaded France and found the technology. I dont know what to believe anymore :cantbeli:

[Herrmannek]

Back to B&W, the true face of the First World War (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT):

http://www.geocities.com/~worldwar1/picnic/trueface.html

(click on each picture for the next; not for the faint of heart)

Strange War indeed :( . Good that photos are B&W. How those soldiers managed to pose the photo calm over heap of their dead bodys' mates?

[Herrmannek]

Those pics could be also put on "three" black and white films by dividing spectrum int thre main colors by filters and prisms then put together on to pics sperately in dark room.(Technicolor I think)

[pinkeye]

1861: Scottish physicist James Clerk-Maxwell demonstrates a color photography system involving three black and white photographs, each taken through a red, green, or blue filter. The photos were turned into lantern slides and projected in registration with the same color filters. This is the "color separation" method

1868: Ducas de Hauron publishes a book proposing a variety of methods for color photography

1906: Availability of panchromatic black and white film and therefore high quality color separation color photography.

1907: first commercial color film, the Autochrome plates, manufactured by Lumiere brothers in France

[Loco]

1907: first commercial color film, the Autochrome plates, manufactured by Lumiere brothers in France
Main contributions to colour photos since the 2ºhalf of XIX to the time of IWW were made by french theorics and industrial, although they weren´t the only ones. The Lumiere Autochrome methode was a comercial succesful, and the one that give to everybody the chance of taking colour photos, even though that photography wasn´t a massive hobby as today because was more complicated because the need of dry plates. In the case of Ramon y Cajal, he plain wasn´t interested in business. It was in the 30´s when Kodak and Agfa made the next big advance when they discovered the method of using easy produced films for photos, and simultaneously for colour photos. Today we use almost the same method of the 30´s.