Breathing colour into historical photographs

When I look at these old historical photographs that have been colourised digitally, it really brings these images to life. It shortens the distance in time between our time and the subjects’ times.

Black and white is certainly a powerful format, both for historical photos and for contemporary work. At the same time, there is something incredible about the work historical colourists do.

Japanese Warrior, 1881. Original image courtesy of @TalesOfOneCity. More info: https://t.co/YSNZJjcGZY pic.twitter.com/wmWorqJcav

— Jordan Acosta (@jordanacostahq) April 23, 2016

This work is remarkable. The video is well worth watching too.

Huge thanks to @voxdotcom for this great video on the craft of #colorization feat. images from #ThePaperTimeMachinehttps://t.co/DsEWdvDlFB

— Jordan Acosta (@jordanacostahq) May 30, 2017

If you are interested in seeing more of this work, here are the artists who Vox highlighted in their video show notes:

• Jordan Lloyd
• Mads Madsen
• Marina Amaral
• Dana Keller
• Patty Allison