Early photography

Historical photos are the only window we have to the past and we can learn so much from them. Here are 35 rare historical pictures you must see.

The rise of photography in the mid-late 19th-century began the move away from an oral and literary tradition towards one based on image. A photograph can describe a moment in time more viscerally than the written word. Think of that picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. A million words have been written … Continue reading "The Astonishing Cinematic Autochrome Photography of Heinrich Kühn"

Alfred Stieglitz | Spring Showers, 1900/01. Artist: Alfred Stieglitz American, 1864–1946.

See photos from and hear from the curators of the Museum of the City of New York's new exhibit “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.”

We imagine the past in black-and-white, but Mervyn O'Gorman was taking color photos using glass plates coated in potato starch in 1913. The technical name for this process is autochrome, and O'Gorman used it to take beautiful pictures of his daughter Christina wearing red in the British countryside. As the photos contain little to give their era away, they seem to be from no specific period.

A few months ago, I read there was an exhibition of photos by McCullin at Tate Britain. I thought “That one can wait, it’s going to for ages and everybody knows the work of the award-wi…

circa 1880 pb

These 20 famous photographs are significant in history each for their own reason. Learn how photography has literally changed history.

Download Image of Balcony. Nancy, France, 1909-1911. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. Public domain photograph of a woman, female portrait, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description. Dated: 1909 - 1911. Topics: julien gerardin, national school of art and design of nancy, early photography, color photography, france, autochromes, vintage photographs, autochromes by julien gerardin, high resolution

Here's what the world looked like in color, over 100 years ago.