The Colour of the Past

As a boy, I asked my mom:

Was everything black and white back in the old days?

In every black and white photograph, all of the people were wearing black and white clothes.

The buildings were gray. The grass looked boring. I couldn't quite picture the colours.

Don't get me wrong, black and white photos are often beautiful.

It's just hard to imagine all of the colour that was really there when the photo was taken.

1914, Lifeboat men

The Colour of the Future

You may have studied a black and white photo many times over the years but when you see it transformed to colour it feels completely different.

Black and white photography certainly has it's charm, colour adds wonderful depth to a photo.

I've been exploring Irish photo archives and colourising some of the photographs.

I'm gradually building up a collection of colourised Irish heritage photography on this page, so if you visit again later, you might see a few new ones.

As I go along, I'll post the photographs on Twitter, so you can follow along there if you like.

Dunmanway, Co.Cork. 1911 - 1914

1890, Glencar Tea House

Killarney House, Co. Kerry, Circa 1877-1914

Royal Engineers, Signalling Corps, 27 March 1915

Bray, Co. Wicklow 1900 – 1920

Kilkeel, Co. Down 1890

Molls Gap, County Kerry, 1910

Trinity College, Dublin, Late 19th Century

Trinity College, Dublin, Late 19th Century, Colorized.

Moore Street, Dublin, March 1946

Easter Rising 1916, O'Connell's Bridge Dublin

City Hall, Cork

Belfast, Royal Avenue, 1890, Colourized

Easter Rising, Dublin 1916

Cork 1902

If you find Back In Colour interesting, please share it with your friends. Perhaps they have some more great old black and white photos to colourize.

If you'd really like to support the project, you could buy me a coffee to keep me going. 😃