I am not much of a fan of people who spend hours in Photoshop colourising old war photos & other such artefacts…
Black & white film has such a beautiful tonality & way of rendering reality that it seems almost crass for someone to decide a century later what colours might have existed in that ‘reality.’ They often end up in some uncanny valley due to over sharpening as well. Sometimes nerds don’t realise that the modern idea of photorealism undermines the actual narrative of an old monochrome photo…
But…
If you’re not from NZ you will likely not be aware of a company called WHITES AVIATION. “Leo White was born in Auckland on 4 July 1906…. White captured some of the first images of Auckland from the air in 1921.. By 1945 White established the now famous Whites Aviation Ltd. Apart from the stunning aerial photos he also developed his business by hiring women to hand colour the monochrome photos, and such photos nowadays are highly sought after. Some great examples are available on this site and a number of books have been published…
The interesting aspect of this work is that Whites Aviation hand-titned photos all have a similar & very beautiful aesthetic. They are somehow gently tinted with colour in an understated way and the style is iconic, such that when I visited the Archives Open Day & had a tour of their photo storage, some of the photos they showed us it was instantly obvious it was a Whites photo.
In 2016 a local short doco initiative funded this great short film: “As one of the original colourists for Whites Aviation in the 1950’s, Grace Rawson reminisces and revives the forgotten art of hand-tinted photography for the first time in over fifty years.”
Co-Director: Greg Wood
Co-Director: Peter Alsop
So while all of this is interesting history, why am I blogging about it now?
Well… the last few weeks have been incredibly busy for me, as we start predubs on the film BLACK SHEEPS on Monday, so I have hardly left my studio in weeks… But as I needed to go into Wellington today to transfer data at Park Road Post for the mix, I had a quick look at FB Marketplace and this instantly caught my eye:
They had a few such boxes & only wanted NZ$30 for them, so I messaged & said I’d buy them & could I pickup today… They agreed & by the time I got there six other people had tried to beat me for them! And wow!!
I don’t plan to emulate the work of Whites Aviation – my aims are more experimental… But random coincidences such as this to me always seem like divine intervention. These beautiful sets of old oil paints that have a very very specific use, were waiting….
For me.