The history of photography starts back in 1824 with the process of heliography – and since then, it’s transformed into an awe-inspiring art.
“In the mid-1820s, Nicéphore Niépce first managed to fix an image that was captured with a camera, but at least eight hours or even several days of exposure in the camera were required and the earliest results were very crude. Niépce’s,” says Wikipedia.
Color photography didn’t enter the scene until 1907, however, it didn’t gain popularity and availability until Kodak sold it to the masses in the mid-1930s. Before then, nearly all photos were in black and white.
Thanks to the work of some incredible digital enhancement, these 30 historic photos have been given new life with colorization.
These photos give an incredible glimpse into life many decades and generations ago. It’s a truly humbling look at our history.
1) The fog of a century
Here, “goalkeeper Sam Bartram, alone on the pitch, not realizing that the game had been abandoned 15 minutes earlier due to heavy fog – December 25th, 1937,” says this Reddit post.
Here, Carl Akeley poses with a leopard that he killed with his bare hands after the cat attacked him back in 1896. The colorization of this photo makes it feel like it could have been taken yesterday.
On July 4, 1953, the newly engaged John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier sat in a living room in a home on Cape Cod. Jackie stares at her future husband and president-to-be in adoration.
4) Into the jaws of death
This harrowing photo, taken on June 6th, 1944, shows soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy. “The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history,” says Wikipedia.
“The most intelligent picture ever taken: Participants of the 5th Solvay Conference on Quantum Mechanics, 1927. They are, among others: Albert Einstein, Marie S. Curie, and Niels Bohr. 17 of the 29 attendees were or became Nobel Prize winners,” explains this Reddit post.
The colorization of this Albert Einstein photo is absolutely incredible. It makes you feel like you’re looking at him right in the face – in person! The details are mind-blowing.
Henry Behrens, the smallest man in the world, dances with his pet cat in this sweet photo, which was once black and white and far less detailed. This photo was taken in 1956 in the doorway of this Worthing home.
“An anti-Nazi political activist, she was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the LMU with her brother, Hans. As a result, they were both executed by guillotine 76 years ago,” says the caption for this shared photo.
“A German soldier with a sawtooth bayonet stands in a dugout wearing his brow plate slid down to his neck, World War I,” captions this Reddit photo. The soldier’s eyes have such intensity.
This photo from 1913 captures the shortest, tallest, and fattest men in Europe at the time, playing a game of cards. Just some friendly competition and banter with some beer!
“100 years ago Mata Hari was shot after blowing a kiss at the French firing squad who executed her for accusations of being a spy,” wrote this Reddit user one year ago.
This digitally-enhanced photo is of a young Princess Elizabeth in 1945. The future queen served as an ambulance driver for the Auxiliary Territorial Service during WWII.
“Ruby Bridges escorted by U.S. Marshals to attend an all-white school, 1960. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis,” explains this Reddit post.
“Titanic Orphans, brothers Michel and Edmond Navratil, 1912. They were the only children to be rescued from the Titanic without a parent or guardian,” explains Marina Maral.
This photo, snapped in 1955, captures a young Rosa Parks with Martin Luther King, Jr., in the background. A difficult time in the world where these two were making great changes.
The Mona Lisa was unpacked from its box, protecting it from the chaos of World War II in 1945. The work of art is checked for any damage, however, she survived.
This photo, shot in 1935, shows a group of young boys gathering around a veteran of the Civil War in Pennsylvania. Can you imagine the stories the must have heard?
In this digitally-enhanced photo, you’ll see a young 21-year-old Eunice Hancock. She’s operating a compressed-air grinder in a Midwest aircraft plant in August of 1942.
“Oregon, August 1939. Unemployed lumber worker goes with his wife to the bean harvest. Social Security number tattooed on his arm identifies him as Thomas Cave.”
This photo is so well-enhanced that you’d have no idea it was taken sometime in the early 1900s. This is Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia.
“Winston Churchill as a Cornet in the 4th Queen’s Hussar’s Cavalry, 1895. He was 21 at the time,” explains Marina Maral of this digitally-enhanced historic photo.
After JFK was assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in and took the oath of office aboard Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. Jackie O stands shocked beside him.
Thanks to digitally enhanced photos like these, we’re able to look back at the future with so much more clarity, understanding, and empathy. It truly brings these photos from the past back into the present. Absolutely stunning.
The history of photography starts back in 1824 with the process of heliography – and since then, it’s transformed into an awe-inspiring art.
“In the mid-1820s, Nicéphore Niépce first managed to fix an image that was captured with a camera, but at least eight hours or even several days of exposure in the camera were required and the earliest results were very crude. Niépce’s,” says Wikipedia.
Color photography didn’t enter the scene until 1907, however, it didn’t gain popularity and availability until Kodak sold it to the masses in the mid-1930s. Before then, nearly all photos were in black and white.
Thanks to the work of some incredible digital enhancement, these 30 historic photos have been given new life with colorization.
These photos give an incredible glimpse into life many decades and generations ago. It’s a truly humbling look at our history.
