30 November 2008
Carnival Color
Some eras in history seem only to exist in black and white. It's so rare to see a photograph from the 30's or 40's in color that it's sometimes easy to forget the the world was full of vivid color at that time. Every time I watch old black and white movies I wonder what color all the beautiful silk dresses are and what color the walls are painted. The Flickr photostream from The Library of Congress changes all of that. Loaded with scans of color slides from pre-WWII to the late 40's, it showcases the world in all its full color glory. The images range from Rosie the Riveter war workers to poor Southern share croppers to (some of my favorites) small town carnivals. They give a whole new perspective on what the world looked like at that time.
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20 comments:
Wow, you're right, what a different perspective. Thanks for posting these!
these are some of my favorites from that flickr set!!!
have you started watching carnivale yet????
They are amazing! Haha, and your right, one sometimes really forgets that it wasn't black and white in reality :)
Wow, to see these in color is so unusual! Very fun.
:)
So pretty! :o)
ooh you've gotta check out autochrome. It was a colour technique invented in the late 1800's that was expensive so pretty rare. I had no idea there were colour images that early on and it blew my mind when I saw these: http://www.autochromes.be/
Thanks for your comments!
Effie: No, I'm afraid I haven't gotten around to it! I'm putting it on my Netflix list RIGHT NOW.
Jennifer Anne: OMG! Wow, those are completely amazing. Thank you so much for the link. I may have to blog about those soon.
this is amazing...
all I watch are black and white movies or movies that are in technicolor from the 50s, or 60s and I always, always wonder what the color of their hats or dresses were. whenever a scene comes up in a movie where I think there is a lot of color... I just picture it in my mind and I already find it amazing.
I absolutely love these photos. thank you so much for posting them! I'm one of the biggest fans from the 40s, 50s time era.
xo
d
Wooow! that is amazing! I love the last photo especially!
Wow, you're right, it's almost... unbelievable. Seems fake, haha.
these are incredible and they really do offer up a whole new perspective that i never really thought of before. thanks for sharing!
ooo fun
oh yes! so good!
wow. these are unreal.
ah waw! if only i could gathered around there, i'm indonesian hahaha
wow, these are incredible! thanks for sharing.
What a great resource; thanks for mentioning it!
I really know that feeling with the colours and all and I guess that's why I really got an amazing kick out of watching the retouched version of Hitchcock's Vertigo about ten years ago. Talk about vibrant colours! Especially in that scene where Jimmy Stewart takes Kim Novak out to a restaurant/club where the tapestry as I recall, is a really bloody red. But even the scenes with no striking colours have an unearthly light about them that makes Novak's face radiate and her famous grey two-piece look stunning. Anyway, I know the feeling and love the photos you found from the carnivals.
yes yes yes! oh so much yes-ness those photos are. i've had a small-town-carnival fetish for as long as i can remember....
Amerika!!
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