5/6 extra: 1911 color photograph

[Undertoad]

Entitled "The Emir of Bukhara", this photograph was taken in 1911.

1911, 25 years before the development of Kodachrome. It just so happens that the Russian gentleman who took the shot used a process wherein the full colors could be accurately restored. The photographer would make black and white prints but was able to display the images in color as slides. Now you can see them as photographs.

There are about 100 images in the full exhibit, which is here:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/gorskii.html

The work shown is from 1907-1915. A lot of images, which will take quite a while to see if you're modem-bound.

Here we have fairly accurate color photos of people in Russia. In your mind's eye, those shots are supposed to be black and white. This shot is pre WWI. This shot is not how you imagine it should be. In some other shots, it's surprising even that the grass is green. The people are wearing bright colors. The buildings are freshly painted and colorful.

That's mind-boggling by itself. But think about all the other considerations.

Our view of that time in history is definitely affected by our perception of people of that time. And our perception is - no pun intended, really - colored, by the lack of anything but eye-witness reports. Or different technologies to record what that past was.

Some of the images are of common people, and these images are particularly striking. These people are newly humanized, even though they lived almost a century ago. They were more like us than we perceive, and their society more different.

And how will future societies view us? Certainly we'll be backwards in a lot of ways, we expect. A whole generation of fully-3D renderings of major events and entertainment would make our stupid 2-D movies and TV seem positively dull. Will they say we started wars because we were bored with our entertainment? (Would they be RIGHT?)