History & Technique of Hand-Coloring Photographs

(Hand-colored photo taken in Prague, Czech Republic, 2003)

There is a long history behind hand-colored photos. This Wikipedia entry has a very good description of the history with some good links concerning technique. I'm a bit of a purist. I still shoot on B&W film, make a silver print on fiber-base matte surface paper and color with oils. One of my prints would last, with proper display or storage, forever.

This is a good article on hand-coloring using a modern digital camera and paper. Although the old-fashioned look could be recreated this way, I doubt that it would have anywhere near the archival qualities. But if you are a scrapbook aficionado or just want a new hobby, this may be your best bet.

One of the more prolific colorists was the early 20th century photographer Wallace Nutting. If you type "history of hand-colored photographs" into the Google you'll get at least 157,000 pages to view at your leisure. Everyone has a unique style, Nutting is one of many.

Motivation

(Hand colored photo of Caroline)

I got motivated to try this picture-a-day project because of a book Charles got me for Christmas, Anne Whiston Spirn's "Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs & Reports from the Field". I am familiar with Lange because I did a report on her when I was in photography school (yes, even photography school requires book reports). At one point Lange made over 3000 pictures in one year. She appears to have traveled over much of the U.S. and many of the pictures were taken right here in the Pacific Northwest.

Interesting looking at Lange's work again as we enter another Great Depression-like era complete with WPA projects and displaced workers. I wonder when the bread lines will start up again?

The momentous first post

This first photo is looking out the back door towards the shop. Needless to say, we've had some snow recently....as of yesterday, 19 inches, the most snow in almost 60 years.

It's almost the new year and it's time again for the dreaded New Year's resolutions. Mostly I say harumph to this but after a dismal year creatively, I figured I needed SOMETHING, a gimmick I suppose (hey, whatever works!), to get me moving again.

And so, in 2009, I'm going to take at least one photograph a day for a year. I may even take more than one and I may go longer than a year but more the better. I'll occasionally share them with you, they will all be black and white, some may be hand-colored. It may be a snapshot, it may be a masterpiece...sublime or silly. But they will be new and they will mostly be taken here in Portland. When the economy recovers, I'm going to have some (hopefully) really great stuff to put out on the art walks and open studio tours for people to admire and not buy (yes, it was a really bad year sales-wise and I'm a total cynic).

I also plan to use this blog to post my deep thoughts because, you know, I have so many of them. (It's a burden I'm telling you!). Mostly I'll just let you know what's happening every once in awhile, what we're doing, where we're going, new projects, new ideas. So please bookmark this blog, check back often, drop a comment in the comments section and let me know what you are deeply thinking about....or what you had for breakfast. Whatever is on your mind.

Happy New year!