Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943

[Dwig]

Good link. I love these pictures. They're one of the best investments our government has made.

BTW, anyone who is interested in historical images like these should be a regular visitor to Shorpy ( http://www.shorpy.com/ ). They post new images several times a day, on average, and have posted many of the FSA images. A number of the Russel Lee and Jack Delano images on the Denver Post page have been shown on Shorpy. Number 14 on the Denver Post page was posted on Shorpy with better color correction ( http://www.shorpy.com/node/1666 ) about 3 years ago.

 

[imokruok]

Just wondering, but what was the modern evolution of these films? Would they be considered a Kodachrome, Ektachrome, or some other type?

 

[MartinP]

Perhaps this thread can be merged with the other one on the same (interesting) photos which was running last week.
🙂

EDIT: Actually, I look in here about four or five evenings a week and I suspect that is too often . . . sorry !

 

[jarski]

simply amazing photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[Dwig]

Just wondering, but what was the modern evolution of these films? Would they be considered a Kodachrome, Ektachrome, or some other type?

They would most likely all be Kodachrome. There was no Ektachrome yet. The only reference I've seen to the film type for the color images shot for the FSA was Kodachrome. Of particular note for those that are constantly fretting about which sensor has the least high ISO noise, the various versions of Kodachrome that were available in this period through the end of WWII ranged from ASA 6 to 10.

According to the Shorpy post for #14 ( http://www.shorpy.com/node/1666 ), it was Kodachrome. At the time, Kodachrome was far less stable than the versions from just a few years later. Many of the Jack Delano images shot on 4x5 Kodachrome later during WWII seem to have retained their color much better than the 35mm images from 1940, many of which were shot by Russell Lee.

 

[imokruok]

Dwig, thank you for the informative post.

 

[RichL]

Notch codes and dates

Notch codes and dates

Just wondering, but what was the modern evolution of these films? Would they be considered a Kodachrome, Ektachrome, or some other type?

The date of the photo combined with the notch code appears to make it Kodachrome Daylight Transparency.

 

[Ducky]

Somehow they don't look nearly as depressing as the bw photos.

 

[jan normandale]

the US Library of Congress has a flickr page and these images and more are located there

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/

knock yourself out!

 

[jarski]

Somehow they don't look nearly as depressing as the bw photos.

yes, color makes wonders. I think we've learned to look old B&W photos certain ways, like: "it must be a 100 years old, nothing todo with our time". while old good quality color photos are so rare one starts to wonder were they taken yesterday... least that happens to me every time 😛

 

[Belle]

Thanks for sharing this post. It's priceless.

 

[35mmdelux]

Many fotos held by the Library of Congress (owned by the American people) can be purchased for a modest sum. There is a link there somewhere where one can buy fotos scanned from the original negative. ~$30 for a Civil War foto is pretty cheap if you ask me.

 

[Pablito]

They would most likely all be Kodachrome.

The fact that they were Kodachrome has been documented extensively in everything ever written about the FSA color work, and in interviews with the FSA photographers who did color work.