Color Photos Combined Thread

G

greg robertson

Member
It may have been the mid 1930's but i was interested to know if anyone knows of colour photographs of the Olympic (or Mauretania) in colour?
I know that Aquitania survived much longer and therefore colour photgraphs of her do exist, but wouldnt it be realy great to see the Olympic in the glory of real colour?
 
I think I remember seeng one in Southampton Martime Museum of the Olympic laid up in 1935. I might have been mistaken as surely any such photo would have appeared in books by now?
 
Are there any color photos ever taken of the Olympic?
I believe they had color film at the end of her career even if not the greatest quality?
Or didn't they?

Forgive me if I'm beeing stupid here..
happy.gif
 
Colour photography was possible throughout the life of the Olympic and even earlier. I have several Edwardian colour (not colourised) photographs - some naughty but none nautical, I'm afraid. The means available were laborious before the arrival of colour film in the 1930s, so genuine examples are very rare. The Russian photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii achieved particularly good results using special cameras with three lenses (each with a different coloured filter) to expose three plates. When the images were combined the scene could be recreated in full colour. Modern colour film is simply a more convenient form of the same process.

Here's an example of a Prokudin-Gorskii colour photo which pre-dates Olympic's maiden voyage:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-8086.jpg

In his day, P-G was not the only photographer working with colour and his was not the only process. My point is that while it's unlikely we will ever see the early Olympic (or the Titanic) in colour, it's not impossible. The attics of the world still hold many surprises.
.
 
Hi Daniel,

The photo was a color snapshot taken on Olympic's port side overlooking the bow area. There wasn't much of Olympic in the photo. Instead, the photographer was trying to capture the Aquitania as the two ships passed.

The seller had many color photos of various WSL vessels. I purchased a brightly colored photo of passengers posing onboard the Adriatic.
 
Hi Trevor,
I think you remembering a 3" x 4" hand tinted 35MM photograph of Aquitania from Olympic I had offered you. I still have it. It was not real color but well done - although I do have some color photographs and slides in my collection from the 1930's. I also have a really nice 1907 collotype/pochoir photocard of Mauretania that is "true" color.

Best,
Eric
 
It's been a long time since I posted on here, hope everyone is doing well.

Recently, I found this fantastic image for sale on corbis.com

It's a great colour photo of the Mauretania but if you look to the left, you see what MIGHT be the Olympic's funnels! After discussion with Jason Tiller and some other friends, we think it's more likely the Olympic than the Majestic. If this is the Olympic, it's certainly the first colour photo I've ever seen!

Thoughts?
 
>>Thoughts?<<

The spacing of the funnels looks about right as does the steam and vent piping going up on both sides. It would help if the bar with " TO DOWNLOAD COMPING IMAGES, PLEASE SIGN IN OR REGISTER." wasn't going across the photo since the hull itself would be visible that way.
 
What's funny is that when I access the page, I don't get that bar with the message on it! (and I don't have an account with corbis). I'm using firefox on a mac with a flashblocker installed so maybe that's the reason.

In the photo I see, the hull is not visible because it's behind another structure.
 

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