faux autochromes at the Jazz Age Sunday Social

So if you follow my blog, you might already know that in addition to making costumes, one of my other quirky hobbies is creating faux-antique photos.   Although I love all varieties of early photography, the antique photos that I adore most of all are autochromes, like this 1910s photo seen on the right from the George Eastman House collection.  This process was invented by the Lumière brothers in France, and it was used to produce the world's first commercially successful color photographs.  Most autochromes date from around 1905 through the early 1930s, and you can see more examples on my pinterest page devoted to the subject.  There is something so hauntingly beautiful about old autochromes with their hazy colors, soft focus, and pointillist-style coloring.  Their subjects exude such quietness and serenity, and I adore the dreamy, other-worthy feeling that you get from seeing 100 year old subjects in full realistic color.  

So after our recent DFWCG outing at the Jazz Age Sunday Social, I decided to try my hand at creating my own faux-autochromes.  The 20's era costumes, old cars, and historical buildings from that event made the perfect subject matter for this type of photography.  I used photoshop to make these, and I developed with my own custom techniques and actions to create an autochrome effect.  I also spent a good bit of time de-modernizing the backgrounds, as you can see in this "before and after" comparison.  It's a lot of work, but SO much fun to use my 21st c. computer skills to create images that play homage to this fascinating photo process from the past.