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[cluto]

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=japanese+color&fa=displayed:anywhere&sp=1&sg=true&st=gallery

That link is a goldmine if you like old Japanese art.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Yes!



This is an amazing resource.

 

[Dai101]

This thread is AMAZING. Suscribed and also thanks for the 52st wallpaper.

 

[Alfarif]

You can just tell how high quality film is compared to anything digital, even if the digital scans lose some of the original information. You have to get a really expensive camera today to replicate what some of these are doing on film + a talented dark room developer. Even then, it's like the digital version would FEEL digital, while these somehow come out looking MORE real. Mindblowing, man.

 

[Kabouter]

Two nice old pictures I found on a Dutch site.

A converted Fiat Topolino at Amsterdam Central Station to check the rails. (1947)

Liberal (in the European sense) election poster telling women to guard against red or black dominance. (1918)

 

[Kabouter]

Some loitering youths.

 

[Jme]

This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, Long Beach, Calif. She's one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions

 

[Prez]

Liberal (in the European sense) election poster telling women to guard against red or black dominance. (1918)

Just in case it's not clear for some: black = religious party, red = socialist party. It has nothing to do with race.

No idea why I'm saying this though. It's pretty obvious.

 

[Cereal KiIIer]

I remember reading in my school books as a kid that these early coasters were regularly breaking people necks because of the insane and instant G's they'd start pulling while in those tiny loops. After awhile they learned they'd have to make the loops bigger.

Not exactly. The loop can't be perfectly circular. It needs to be taller than longer.

 

[deadhorse32]

Albert Kahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kahn_(banker))

Photograph collection

In 1909 Kahn travelled with his chauffeur and photographer, Alfred Dutertre to Japan on business and returned with many photographs of the journey. This prompted him to begin a project collecting a photographic record of the entire Earth. He appointed Jean Brunhes as the project director, and sent photographers to every continent to record images of the planet using the first colour photography, autochrome plates, and early cinematography. Between 1909 and 1931 they collected 72,000 colour photographs and 183,000 meters of film. These form a unique historical record of 50 countries, known as "The Archives of the Planet".

Kahn's photographers began documenting France in 1914, just days before the outbreak of World War I, and by liaising with the military managed to record both the devastation of war, and the struggle to continue everyday life and agricultural work.

He also promoted education at the highest level through travelling scholarships.

The economic crisis of the Great Depression ruined Kahn and put an end to his project.

There is a ten part BBC show (and book) about the him and his collection.

Very good stuff

 

[Ganhyun]

awesome thread with awesome pictures

 

[Ilive1up]

if the 50's had internet, i'd live during that time.

 

[dejay]

It took my brain like three seconds to actually see their legs in this photo. It was a weird three seconds!

 

[Kerub]

Seriously cool thread.

Thank you OP!

 

[WanderingWind]

Most impressive.

 

[Sirius]

Or old pictures from Japan, starting from 1890s to 1920s!

These are amazing! I switched the order of the stereoscopic image for cross-eyed viewing; looks incredible, I'm actually surprised whoever took this thought of taking a stereo-picture for this occasion.

 

[Wrekt]

The '40s version of planking.

I laughed so fucking hard at this.

 

[Devolution]

I mentioned it earlier but here are some of my favs in the army photo collection:

Bay Bridge-less SF

If people want to see more I can post 'em. These are all from the early 1930s.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Man, people were dapper as fuck back then.


Fucking decline.

 

[Clipjoint]

I'm the least jingoistic person in the world, but this photo just kicks so much ass.

 

[Melchiah]

A dozen Third Reich images by Life.

 

[kylej]

A dozen Third Reich images by Life.

Surreal.

 

[Beardz]

Subscribed

 

[Wool]

This picture isn't that impressive to look at, but it's from the Civil War. The info says that it's a picture of three people captured at Gettysburg.

 

[Kabouter]

1965 - Kid got homesick and decided he was going home. He travelled like this for 8km.

1934 - Soldier guarding garbage collectors in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam because of riots caused by lowered unemployment benefits, five people lost their lives in the riots.

 

[tehrafe]

Gentpoort (Ghent gate), the house I grew up in is right behind it

then

now

Heilige bloedkapel (The chapel), chapel 10 seconds away from the market square
then

now

this website is awesome

 

[SolKane]

The Nazi rally pictures are very sad, if only because it makes you think of how many innocent people died for nothing

 

[Yoboman]

Man see, the old pic is like some gorgeous painting. Modern photography lacks something.

Anyway, yea basically a fresh coat of paint.

It is a painting... As in it was a photo that has been painted in colour

 

[Ezduo]

I wanna be the guy on the bike when I grow up. Look at this cool motherfucker. Walking a dog, riding a bike, smoking a cigarette, dressed to kill and there's a guy with a gun pointed a few inches from his head but he's more interested in the guy taking his picture.

 

[Scarecrow]

A dozen Third Reich images by Life.

It would be absolutely fascinating to have a dinner conversation with Hitler.

 

[Ether_Snake]

This picture is STRAIGHT OUT of 1984. We are so used to thinking of these scenes as being caricatural depictions of dictatorships, and yet, no, this stuff was for real.

BTW do you guys know of any other site that gives really highres photos? I'm looking for more stuff to print rather than buy prints. Doesn't have to be old pictures.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Fucking hell! Japan really had some of the best architecture in the world.

 

[wetwired]

Yes!



This is an amazing resource.

Sigourney Weaver?

 

[davepoobond]

wow it is really weird seeing a lot of these "old" pictures in high resolution with little to no noise. they look almost like they were taken yesterday.

 

[Darklord]

Amazing pictures. I know the Nazi's were terrible but loved the massive scale they did things. Everything is massive, even the flags.

 

[tass0]

Some of these photos are fucking AMAZING.

I don't understand how they can look this good, in such quality.

Heck, some of these photos are better than the ones off my 550d.

 

[Da DreadLord]

I'm the least jingoistic person in the world, but this photo just kicks so much ass.

vinnie jones?

 

[noah111]

Amazing pictures. I know the Nazi's were terrible but loved the massive scale they did things. Everything is massive, even the flags.

Yeah, take out the whole genocide part and it must have been an amazing time for the citizens/culture to feel like they were at the top of the world and loved their country etc.

That for me is the saddest part, so much manipulation, so easily..

 

[red731]

This thread is unreal.
What photo taking device did they used in the time they took the pictures of the army on first page blows my mind. I thought it was redone these days! So clean, so sharp...

Subscribed

 

[Chuckie]

Yeah it is very strange. Almost don't seem real for some reason.

Yeah I also felt that sensation when I saw a film of Hitler in colour. My brains were saying to me: Hey, he's supposed to be black and white.

 

[Fry]

This thread makes me want to watch movies set in the early 50's, or some Godfather stuff.

Great thread.

 

[Boozeroony]

Yeah I also felt that sensation when I saw a film of Hitler in colour. My brains were saying to me: Hey, he's supposed to be black and white.

He was.... in a way.

 

[Metal-Geo]

Anything American from 1940 to late 1960 tickles my fancy. That 52nd street photo. <3

 

[Timbuktu]

This thread is unreal.
What photo taking device did they used in the time they took the pictures of the army on first page blows my mind. I thought it was redone these days! So clean, so sharp...

Subscribed

I get that feeling sometimes when i watch remastered old films. Got so used to seeing the age of a film/photo just from the colour or image quality, it was so easy to tell if something is 'history' or new. Seeing Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now in HD after watching West Wing is almost like going through a time machine.

Makes me wonder how people would look back fifty or a hundred years from now. Would photographs now and then look that different. We can't separate ourselves from history as much any more.

 

[Metal-Geo]

Those silhouettes are just perfect.

 

[SpartanForce]

This thread makes me want to watch movies set in the early 50's, or some Godfather stuff.

Great thread.

40's, but go for it son:

Amazing thread here. These nazi's photos are sad and gorgeous at the same time.

Those silhouettes are just perfect.

I prefer this one here:

 

[kruis]

This thread is unreal.
What photo taking device did they used in the time they took the pictures of the army on first page blows my mind. I thought it was redone these days! So clean, so sharp...

Subscribed

I don't know if this site has already been mentioned, but if you want to be astounded by highres photographs, check out http://www.shorpy.com/

That site has hundreds, if not thousands of scans of glass negative photography. The photos are usually at least 100 years old but the pictures are razor sharp. I'm not gonna link a sample photo because the resolution is simply too high.

Here's a nice example from 1915: http://www.shorpy.com/node/11531?size=_original

Resolution: 8000x3400 pixels!

 

[noah111]

^Wow, thanks for that. Amazing stuff in here.

1919;


1943;


1956;


1957;


1913;


The originals are HUUUUUGE.

 

[Melchiah]

Surreal.

It would be absolutely fascinating to have a dinner conversation with Hitler.

Talking about surreal and fascinating, I recommend watching Conspiracy, which depicts the infamous Wannsee conference, where they decided on the methods of mass murdering the jews. It's surreal how they talk casually about the death figures during the dinner.

EDIT: Other recommended material for those interested in the era:
The Occult History of the Third Reich
Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will

 

[Kabouter]

Oh wow, that Shorpy site is amazing, I can't believe the quality of those photos, colourization is really well done as well.