Thursday, April 08, 2021

Addressing Colour

 


When you add colour to an old photograph - or rather when some artificial intelligence source sat high in cyberspace adds colour to an old photograph - you tend to notice things more. This is an old photo of my mother and my grandfather which must date from either the 1930s or the 1940s - but which? The addition of colour makes her dress quite distinctive, and potentially more useful in dating the photograph. My wife - who knows about such things - tells me it is 1950s, but that can't be the case, unless the same artificial intelligence has brought my grandfather back from the dead. Before seeing the colourised version of the photo, I had assumed that it was the early 1930s, but now I am beginning to think that was too early. The logical conclusion is the period around World War 2, but I tend to think of the clothing of that period as somewhat drab and uncolourful. Could the photographer - possibly my father - have captured a moment towards the end of the decade when the colours were about to go out all over Europe?

1 comment:

  1. The photograph was almost certainly taken at 6 Southmere Drive. I recognize the fence, window and pebble-dash wall of the house next door. Not sure what date we moved to this address but my earliest memories (sitting in my high chair, etc.) are from there. So 1944 or earlier.

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Tunnel End

Photographs don't have to be "good" photographs to be memorable. Sometimes all they need to do is to capture a moment in time,...