The First Coloured Photographs

THE FIRST COLOURED PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before I went to bed last night, I had a quick flick on the Daily Mail Online for the gazillionth time that day (I'm not even going to lie and say I'm not addicted to it, because that wouldn't be true in the slightest) and I'm rather glad I did because as sometimes happens with the Daily Mail Online, you occasionally come across articles that are actually rather good with this being one of them. The article was all about an English electrical engineer and photographer named Mervyn O'Gorman, who is reputed to heave taken some of the first ever coloured photographs back in 1913 using a special process called Autochrome, which involves using glass plates covered in potato starch grains to add different coloured dyes to photographs. Mervyn's subject matter was his beautiful daughter Christina who he photographed at various locations around the stunning, tranquil Lulworth Cove, Dorset, wearing different kinds of red clothing to compliment the hue of her spiralling strawberry blonde hair. By using additional photography techniques such as a long exposure, large aperture and narrow depth of field, Mervyn created a series of dreamlike, nostalgic, romantic, and ever so gorgeous photographs that wouldn't look a drop out of place amongst the similar photography styles favoured  by modern day photographers both amateur and professional. Mervyn was a pioneer of his time, a man sparkling with a flurry of creative ideas, beautiful visions, an electrical impulse to push the boundaries and explore the realms of photography further than had ever been done before, to see where they might lead.

I adore these photographs because they're so timeless, so innocent, so magical and infused with the most gorgeous gentle colour palette. They celebrate natural beauty and perfectly capture days gone by through Mervyn O'Gorman's  intuitive, sharp and unique creative eye, and I thought it would be ever so rude of me not to share these wonderful photos with you too.

-If you would like to see these photographs on display, they are currently being exhibited at the National Media Museum in Bradford and you can find out more information here. All photographs belong to Mervyn O'Gorman-