#colourising

Been colourising pictures for a few months. This one seems to have turned out alright. Had no idea what that shoot thing was made of that’s attached to the wall so I guessed rusted corrugated iron.

Three French girls in a half barrel, 1919

Taken a century ago, this French photographer seemed to think that a solution to using the same old painted canvas backdrops would be to take these three happy young girls out to a rather dirty shed, and put them in a half barrel. It's pretty obvious from those smiles they didn't mind, after 4 long years of war they were looking forward to happier times. France, however would be a very different place after tthe guns fell silent. France’s economy after WWI was ruined. The loss of manpower for production and also the wreck of agricultural land, bought to an increased need for imports from the other countries. France received the worst blow out of all the powers. With a population of 40 million, half a million died and 700 thousand were disabled. Nearly every family had lost at least one member of the family. The state spent a huge amount of money to get medical care for the millions of wounded that had survived the war. Mortar and artillery bombardments destroyed many houses and villages. They also destroyed wine orchards and agricultural areas, which caused damage economically. Because much of the war was fought in France, there were many discarded shells and mines underneath the ground which had to be dug up and disarmed before the land could be used. In the forests of Verdun French government "démineurs" working for the Département du Déminage still hunt for poisonous, volatile, and/or explosive munitions and recover about 900 tons every year. The most feared are corroded artillery shells containing chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas. French and Flemish farmers still find many UXOs when ploughing their fields, the so-called "iron harvest". This is my colourised version of the glass plate image produced in 1919

Fred Greenhagen (alias Pat Yonkers, Barney Greenhagen) was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary on August 27 1929 for a dyer act and was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day. He pleaded guilty of the crime unlawfully transporting and causing to be transported in interests commerce a certain stolen automobile. He was a mechanic by trade, married and had three children. He was also imprisoned in 1912 for…

King Cudjo was imprisoned for larceny on September 7 1895 for a term of 3 years. His occupation was a farmer. Anderson (Sunday/Sandy) Cudjo a Seminole Indian, was imprisoned for murder in 1899, and was sentenced to 10 years and fined $1. He was a labourer. He committed many violations while he served his time, spitting tobacco juice, reading and talking during work hours, disobeying guards,…