1864 - Aiken's Landing, Virginia (vicinity). Young girl at Aiken house
I fell in love with this image when I found it about 6 months ago. Since then, I’ve struggled to imagine what to do with it. She’s too stern to smile, her hands are fixed and her dress is too complex. Then I noticed a bit of a wind blur where the ribbon on her dress is, and it occurred to me - the movement can be made primarily in the environment. I focus too much on the subject when, sometimes, manipulating the environment can give it more of a real feeling.
Some details struck me when working with the full sized image. She was married, and she was a very hard worker. She’s young, yet her hands are scarred. One nail appears to be just growing back in. Her face shows a hard life, yet her hair and dress are immaculate, despite the windy day. So I guess because of all these details, it was important to me to get her right. Seeing things like that make the person more real to me and, hopefully, more real to you as well.
Check out the original here. Find out how these are created here. Get page updates on Facebook here.
1906 - Around the May pole, E.W. Kelley (Berry, Kelley & Chadwick)
View original here.
This image was somewhat damaged with faded areas, which is why it looks kind of flashy. I chose it mainly because it’s cute, and the variety of colors it would use for the time lapse. I also went to video with the time lapse, the gif just takes too much space and load time. View the lapse below.
1865 - Washington, District of Columbia. Officers and men, 3d Regiment, Mass. Heavy Artillery at Fort Tottar?
I modeled the Union uniform colors from this example. I highly recommend the full size if you enjoy this version, just click it. View the original at the library of congress here.
May 31, 1862 - Fair Oaks, Va. Prof. Thaddeus S. Lowe observing the battle from his balloon "Intrepid"
Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe was appointed Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps in 1861 by Abe Lincoln. The year after the above photo was taken, Thaddeus resigned because of disputes over his operations and pay.
Following his stint in the war, he spent time on his inventions, creating an ice making machine and a water gas process which produced hydrogen gas from charcoal and steam. His patents and inventions made him a millionaire. In 1887 he moved to L.A. building a 24,000 square foot mansion, and opening several ice making plants and even a bank. In 1891 he opened a railroad company which was initially successful but became costly and he lost the company. He died at 81 having lost his fortunes, living in his daughter’s home in Pasadena. Click to read more about him at wikipedia.
Download the original stereo card at the LOC website here.
Selecting colors is always a challenge. I searched, but finding photos of 1920s Roman musicians in color was not an easy task. I looked at this picture and I saw green and yellow, then thought no, then they’d be leprechauns. So I get to working on it and try blue and yellow, ask my husband, and he says, “Make them green!” And he was right, right down to their gold belt buckles, these men are leprechauns. I’m pretty sure when I die I will be assailed by all these people I’ve colorized telling me they had brown eyes, and not blue, or their costumes were red.
View the original from the Library of Congress here.
