iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Do any of you also have accounts on Threads or X or Facebook or Instagram? I'm curous how many of you follow me on any of those? Engagement on here is so low (I'm lucky if I reach 200 of you) I'm thinking of ceasing my blusky posts. But do follow me on other platforms if you've enjoyed the work! ♥️

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

That isn't recorded, but the options are obviously limited, because autochromes weren't commercially released until 1907 and he died in 1912.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Yes, That would be Conrad Heyer, who is the earliest born person to be photographed and verified as such. There are other claimants to the title, but none of those can be verified as there's no birth records available for them.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

The bow of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic exploration ship 'The Endurance', photographed in colour shortly before it sank in November 1915. The man with the camera is crew photographer Frank Hurley. I've cleaned & enhanced the shot, but it is an original colour paget plate and not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Travel back in time to the Central American country of Guatemala 99 years ago, with this stunningly vibrant autochrome of a lady in national dress, photographed in colour by Jacob J. Gayer in 1926. It is original colour (not colourised)

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The orange zing of 1910: I have cleaned-up this striking autochrome study by Thomas Shields Clarke, taken at his home Fernbrook in Lenox, Massachusetts, 115 years ago. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

No, this isn't an Ai image of Ukraine's President Zelensky as Emperor Nero - it's is a genuine autochrome of cosplayers recreating a Classical vignette in Belgium in 1912, taken in colour by Alfonse van Besten 113 years ago. I've cleaned-it up for you, but it is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

I use Adobe Photoshop. The colour data is already in the image, Photoshop doesn't provide it.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

A comparison to demonstrate how I retrieve weak colour information from a faded autochrome: I never paint on new colour to digitally colourise a photo, I only ever work with & boost the colour information in the original plate. This photo shows WWI French war graves at Laffaux on Moday 14th May 1917

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

"Farmers at Rest" - this autochrome by the brothers Auguste & Louis Lumière was taken around 120 years ago. I have cleaned & enhanced this beautiful study of farmers, resting by their cottage in France. It is original colour taken between 1904-7, and is not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Taken exactly 97 years ago this month - in June 1928 - this beautiful autochrome study of a German garden in Baden is a wondrous riot of colour. I just love the 'twenties outfit with cloche hat and aqua marine scarf! It is all original colour, not colourised. 😍

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

I have enhanced for you this lovely autochrome portrait of a young Hindu lady in the Indian city of Agra, photographed in colour 99 years ago by the visiting French photographer Jules Gervais Courtellemont. (It is original colour from 1926 and not colourised).

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I have cleaned-up this autochrome of a (possibly Cree) First Nation family, photographed in colour 111 years ago on the bank of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Alberta. It was taken by the German photographer Hugo Viewegar in 1914. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I've cleaned-up an amazing autochrome from 1920's Tibet. It depicts the Oracle of Nechung (the personal oracle of the 13th Dalai Lama) photographed by Joseph F Rock during his extensive Chinese Expedition in 1927. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Hello Ruth - I know the girl you mean (it's Kitty Stieglitz ) but not sure which photo you remember as I've worked on half a dozen autochrome portraits of her.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Photographed in colour 116 years ago, I have enhanced this shot of Andrée & Suzanne Lumière in 1909. They were the daughters of the The Lumière brothers, Auguste & Louis, who had commercially released their autochrome colour photo process 2 years previously. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

I've cleaned-up this lovely autochrome which was taken in colour 108 years ago by Fernand Cuville, depicting soldiers from the 143rd Infantry Division of the French Army making hay in Soissons, Aisne, France, in 1917. The colour is original - it's not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Photographed in colour by Auguste Léon 111 years ago, on Monday 19th January 1914, I have cleaned-up & enhanced for you this wonderful autochrome portrait of a young girl from the village of Aswan in Egypt. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Thank you for the kind post. I'm very glad you are enjoying the work!

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Photographed in Dunkirk in 1917: I have cleaned-up this autochrome portrait of two French marines - heroes of Drie Grachten in Flanders, Belgium - which was taken in colour 108 years ago by Paul Castelnau. It is original colour (not colourised).

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Reposted by BabelColour

BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Photographed in colour 115 years ago, I have cleaned-up this gorgeous autochrome plate by Julien Gérardin, photographed in France in 1910. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Hello there - I did used to sell prints (framed as well as posters and postcard etc) but that all stopped when my book came out and I was limited by the publisher in how I exploit the work. So for the moment, no. Sorry about that.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Photographed in colour 115 years ago, I have cleaned-up this gorgeous autochrome plate by Julien Gérardin, photographed in France in 1910. It is original colour, not colourised.

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BabelColour @babelcolour.bsky.social · 30/05/2025