Adding A Dash OF Colour

The surprising effect that seeing some of our most famous historical pictures in colour can have...

I've always been slightly obsessed with the past. What it would have been like to live in periods long gone, what it was like for the real people that existed through some of the most turbulent times in our history. Whether it be through literature, film or art, I've been known to gorge myself on certain topics and in particular certain figures that have really grabbed my attention. Photography in particular is a gift sent from heaven for those of us who love to delve into the past; the face staring back at you of a life long past is captivating and even a tad chilling.

I came across some incredible historical photos on my daily perusing of the inter-web, which had been colorised, giving the viewer the feeling of having travelled back through time to the real moment, in vivid colour and not just dull black and white. Some (not all) of the pictures depict tragedy and destruction, others are about jubilation and revelry. All will make your eye linger. 

Human nature means we often get caught up in this obsession with the golden age; a belief that we would have been better off in the 60's or as a Regency lady, a part of Henry VIII's Royal Court or an Empress of the Roman Empire. Note that these daydreams of ours often ignore the reality of the average men and women whose life was a whole load of monotony and being shat on by the upper classes. 

These photos remind me that the characters in the pictures we see were real people in the truest sense of the word, and that moment we see them frozen in was perhaps one of little consequence to them in the grand scheme of things. Their stories were perhaps heartbreaking or glorious, maybe they were nothing really worth mentioning at all? But the colour brought into these shots is a beautiful reminder that they were real, and not just something from a history book.