Very old photos

[Progmetty]

I've never spoken to anyone about this before but I'm here at work in the middle of the desert and things are going slow so I thought I'd share this and maybe I'd find others who have that same hobby.
I'm obesessed with looking at old photographs, from the second half of the 1800's and the first half of the 1900's, I've always had that, I love to look at any small or irrelevent details in the photos which somehow gives me a sense of connection with these times.
Surprisingly drawings doesn't do it for me.
This obesession doesn't have a range of interest or certin specifications, as long as the photos are from these periods I mentioned.
It goes anywhere from photos of wars to royal portraits, like last month I must've spent hours looking at pictures of old Europian kings and queens.
I've looked at hundreds of photos through the years and always seeking more, I can't explain it further cause frankly it doesn't make that much sense to me.

[MetalJunkie]

[Progmetty]

The first photograph ever, I've spent hours looking at this the first time I saw it..

[j]

I'm not obsessed or anything, but I definitely find it very interesting.  It's a strange thought that a particular moment in time has been preserved exactly the way it was/is, while the time period and people in it are long gone, and have been for a long time.  It's about the closest thing there is to "going back in time", since the image represents a time and place just as it was.

-J

[Progmetty]

That was accurate j, it's what I tried to express but my language didn't aid me enough.
Recently I've found this photo which someone uploaded to wikipedia, it's of a Slave trader's business in Atlanta, Georgia, 1864



Look at the street, the doors and the windows, I've seen places that still look like this in Texas and learned they're really old, I find it amazing, especially when I visited some 1800's spanish missions in San Antonio, I took lots of pictures but they're back home.

[ResultsMayVary]

What the fuck is in the photo?

[Progmetty]

What the fuck is in the photo?

View from the Window at Le Gras (La cour du domaine du Gras) was the first successful permanent photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.

Niépce captured the photo with a camera obscura focused onto a sheet of 20 × 25 cm oil-treated bitumen. As a result of the 8-hour exposure, sunlight illuminates the buildings on both sides.

After an unsuccessful trip to Britain to attempt to interest the Royal Society in the process, Niépce gave the photo to the botanist Francis Bauer. It was last publicly exhibited in 1898, and was thereafter forgotten. Helmut Gernsheim brought the photo to prominence again in 1952 and the Eastman Kodak Company made a copy.

In 1973, the University of Texas acquired the plate from Helmut Gernsheim.

Today, the plate is on display at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

Life listed it among "100 Photographs that Changed the World".

[Summers]

[ResultsMayVary]

Damn. 1826.

[splent]

I love Mathew Brady photographs.

[j]

*snip*

Look at the street, the doors and the windows, I've seen places that still look like this in Texas and learned they're really old, I find it amazing, especially when I visited some 1800's spanish missions in San Antonio, I took lots of pictures but they're back home.

That is crazy, I live in Texas too and have been to San Antonio many times, as well as some other old mission sites.  And as old as these things are, none of 'em have been around too much longer than 200 years, although that seems like forever.  Makes you really appreciate something like the Coliseum or the pyramids at Giza, which have been around for thousands of years.  It would be cool if there were photographs from that long ago, or longer.

-J

[Progmetty]

Summers is that from WW1 British trenchs? cause I think I've seen it, good one



I dunno when smiling was invented but certinly not in the 1800's as far as almost every photo I've seen is concerned heh

[Summers]

Summers is that from WW1 British trenchs? cause I think I've seen it, good one

Yeah but it's a French trench I think.  It's pretty fascinating looking at old photos like these, especially if they are in colour.  There's some great WW2 colour photos. 

[Progmetty]

That is crazy, I live in Texas too and have been to San Antonio many times, as well as some other old mission sites.  And as old as these things are, none of 'em have been around too much longer than 200 years, although that seems like forever.  Makes you really appreciate something like the Coliseum or the pyramids at Giza, which have been around for thousands of years.  It would be cool if there were photographs from that long ago, or longer.

-J

A lot would agree with you but -much to my own surprise- I don't share that feeling myself, I'm Egyptian, I've been to the pyramids several times and other historic sites in Egypt but I haven't got these shivers I get looking at the 1800/1900 photos or visiting 200 years old sites in the U.S, somehow I cannot conncet with something as ancient as my ancestors civilization cause the time barrier is just too much for me to overcome, I can't imagine them or picture how they lived, if that makes any sense at all.
While last year when I first visited the Alamo for example was walking like a zombie, completely taken by the vibe of the place, my girlfriend told me later on the ride home that she spoke to me several times but I never responded heh

[SPNKr]

Wow, same amazing stuff here so far. If that previous photo was circa. WWI, that is damn good quality. Plus it's in colour!

That photo with the 3 men looks funny.

[Progmetty]

It's pretty fascinating looking at old photos like these, especially if they are in colour.  There's some great WW2 colour photos. 

Yep, I have a really nice collection of those, one of my favorites:

I had to screencap that photo when I first found it since the website doesn't allow you to save it, it's really fascinating how the now -and all through our life time- very taboo'ed version of the Swastika was once embraced.

That photo with the 3 men looks funny.

The funny man in the middle is Abe Llincoln himself heh, I think that's during the Civil war.

[SPNKr]

It's pretty fascinating looking at old photos like these, especially if they are in colour.  There's some great WW2 colour photos.  

Yep, I have a really nice collection of those, one of my favorites:

I had to screencap that photo when I first found it since the website doesn't allow you to save it, it's really fascinating how the now -and all through our life time- very taboo'ed version of the Swastika was once embraced.

That photo with the 3 men looks funny.

The funny man in the middle is Abe Llincoln himself heh, I think that's during the Civil war.

Right, I initially thought it was Abe Lincoln. But apart from his height, it wasn't so convincing because they're not so close to the camera.
EDIT: The nazi era photo is interesting, looks like they're in a shell ditch XD Also those versions of the Swastika are dumb.

[El Barto]

Good thread. 

I really dig antiquity, but I have a hard time not taking in modern trappings.  I spent some time in Rome a couple of months ago and was hugely disappointed that I could never really appreciate what things would have been like 2000 years ago.  I wanted to envision guys in togas discussing politics, but never could.  You can walk right up and touch the Colosseum, but I could never get past the fact that it was 2009 and I was surrounded by dipshit tourists.  Strangely enough, I've never been to the Alamo, but I can only imagine that it's not that different in terms of tourists.  I guess some people just have an easier time connecting with the past than others.  I wish I were one. 

[SPNKr]

Good thread. 

I really dig antiquity, but I have a hard time not taking in modern trappings.  I spent some time in Rome a couple of months ago and was hugely disappointed that I could never really appreciate what things would have been like 2000 years ago.  I wanted to envision guys in togas discussing politics, but never could.  You can walk right up and touch the Colosseum, but I could never get past the fact that it was 2009 and I was surrounded by dipshit tourists.  Strangely enough, I've never been to the Alamo, but I can only imagine that it's not that different in terms of tourists.  I guess some people just have an easier time connecting with the past than others.  I wish I were one. 

Trying to experience something while being prevented somehow just sucks, doesn't it.

[jasc15]

I dunno when smiling was invented but certinly not in the 1800's as far as almost every photo I've seen is concerned heh

I was reading from this photographer's site earlier:

Photography was invented in France in the mid-1800s. Photographic materials were so slow (insensitive to light) that exposures took hours in direct sunlight.

You needed a tripod not just to hold the camera steady; you needed it to hold the camera while the photo exposed!

Not only did you need to leave the camera on a support, braces were used to hold people still for the long exposures! That's why people looked so dull and bored in old photos. People weren't bored in the old days, but that was the only expression they could hold steady for a sharp ten-minute exposure.

[Fuzzboy]

Great thread. I've always loved this kind of stuff.

Might as well post some Miami then.
Here's Miami Avenue in 1896:



Here's Flagler Street 20 minutes after the Japanese surrendered in WWII:



I love seeing pictures like this, because you can see the Olympia Theater there, which I pass by whenever I go to Downtown Miami. It might not seem like a big deal to you guys, but here in South Florida, once a building goes over 20 years, it gets torn down and replaced with something useless. So it's nice to see buildings like this. It was also the first building below the Mason-Dixon line with Air Conditioning.

Here's the Cape Florida Lighthouse:



It's still there and in fantastic condition. The keeper's house is also just a few yards from there, and you can go inside and see all of the things the owners had when they lived there 100 years ago. All in pristine condition.

Anyways, that's all I got for now.

[SPNKr]

That was awesome!!

[MetalMike06]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

[j]

A lot would agree with you but -much to my own surprise- I don't share that feeling myself, I'm Egyptian, I've been to the pyramids several times and other historic sites in Egypt but I haven't got these shivers I get looking at the 1800/1900 photos or visiting 200 years old sites in the U.S, somehow I cannot conncet with something as ancient as my ancestors civilization cause the time barrier is just too much for me to overcome, I can't imagine them or picture how they lived, if that makes any sense at all.
While last year when I first visited the Alamo for example was walking like a zombie, completely taken by the vibe of the place, my girlfriend told me later on the ride home that she spoke to me several times but I never responded heh

Well-put, I know exactly what you mean.  I've haven't been to too many places like that, but I think you and El Barto summed up the difficulty of appreciating it for what it used to be when you're surrounded by what *is*.  If it existed, a photograph of slaves fighting in a Coliseum full of Romans would be infinitely more "real" in a sense, because nothing in the photo would be spoiled by reminders of the present.

Strangely enough, I've never been to the Alamo, but I can only imagine that it's not that different in terms of tourists.

It is.  It's tough to block out everything else; I guess I just don't have the imagination for it.  But that makes me curious as to why metty could really "connect" with the Alamo, but not something like the pyramids, which are much greater historically.  Maybe like he said, the time difference is just too vast to even begin to relate.

-J

[blackngold29]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

That's pretty incredible, some of those pictures looke like they could've been taken yesterday. I had a teacher who said that color film for movies  was developed very shortly after black and white, but it was just too expensive so it was rarely used.

[MetalManiac666]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

Holy shit!  Those look like they could've been taken within the 21st century!  Good stuff.

[SPNKr]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

Holy shit!  Those look like they could've been taken within the 21st century!  Good stuff.

Pshyeah!

[Progmetty]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

That guy is a freakin creative genius for his time, read how he made these great photos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Mikhailovich_Prokudin-Gorskii#Photography_technique

I dunno when smiling was invented but certinly not in the 1800's as far as almost every photo I've seen is concerned heh

I was reading from this photographer's site earlier:

Photography was invented in France in the mid-1800s. Photographic materials were so slow (insensitive to light) that exposures took hours in direct sunlight.

You needed a tripod not just to hold the camera steady; you needed it to hold the camera while the photo exposed!

Not only did you need to leave the camera on a support, braces were used to hold people still for the long exposures! That's why people looked so dull and bored in old photos. People weren't bored in the old days, but that was the only expression they could hold steady for a sharp ten-minute exposure.

Thank you! now it makes more sense!

[aurorablind]

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Supposedly the first guy to pioneer color photography, circa early 1900s. Pretty cool stuff.

That totally blew me away..
Who whould think that the picture of the castle and the bridge where taken in 1910?! Thats insane..

[jasc15]

These always get me

This:


then this:

[Progmetty]

Strangely enough, I've never been to the Alamo, but I can only imagine that it's not that different in terms of tourists.

It is.  It's tough to block out everything else; I guess I just don't have the imagination for it.  But that makes me curious as to why metty could really "connect" with the Alamo, but not something like the pyramids, which are much greater historically.  Maybe like he said, the time difference is just too vast to even begin to relate.

-J

The next few times I visited the Alamo I took some pictures, since I was too overwhelmed by the place the first time to hold a camera.
I tried to take these photos from angles that completely block out any modern aspect, be it tourists, power lines or buildings in the background.
Most of the pictures I took at the Alamo -among other missions- are back home, I only have a few with me here (I removed the colours back then cause I felt the pictures better that way):
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01802.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01804.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01805.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01806.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01788.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01791.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01793.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01798.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01799.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01856.jpg

The monuments outside the Alamo honoring the tremoundes heroism that took place there:
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01810.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01813.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01811.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/Sir-Joe/aDSC01812.jpg
If you removed the letter "a" from the file names in the links you'll see most of the original colored pictures I took.

[cthrubuoy]

Some of the pictures are incredible, but I personally like to see the modern photos as well. Especially if the photographer has taken the shot in an identical spot to the original.*
A classic example of this is when you see a street (even as not-so-far back as the 70's), and the same street today. Even something as little as the amount of cars parked on the side of the road makes me want to view hundreds more of the same.

*There was a good shot of this on digg the other day. I'll try and find it.

Edit: Found it.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Yeh this sort of thing can be pretty fascinating.

Some pictures of Maori communities in old colonial days

[Zydar]

I dunno when smiling was invented but certinly not in the 1800's as far as almost every photo I've seen is concerned heh

I was reading from this photographer's site earlier:

Photography was invented in France in the mid-1800s. Photographic materials were so slow (insensitive to light) that exposures took hours in direct sunlight.

You needed a tripod not just to hold the camera steady; you needed it to hold the camera while the photo exposed!

Not only did you need to leave the camera on a support, braces were used to hold people still for the long exposures! That's why people looked so dull and bored in old photos. People weren't bored in the old days, but that was the only expression they could hold steady for a sharp ten-minute exposure.

Just get them to a DT concert and they'll be smiling for days  

[Fluffy Lothario]

Some of the pictures are incredible, but I personally like to see the modern photos as well. Especially if the photographer has taken the shot in an identical spot to the original.*
A classic example of this is when you see a street (even as not-so-far back as the 70's), and the same street today. Even something as little as the amount of cars parked on the side of the road makes me want to view hundreds more of the same.

Oooh, these are also very cool.

Dubai