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babelcolour.bsky.social
I'm Stuart Humphryes (known online as BabelColour). I clean, repair, enhance and transform early colour photography.
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I have cleaned & enhanced this poignant autochrome portrait of a young girl holding a poppy in a Belgian field in 1919. It was photographed in colour 106 years ago by Gustave Gain and is not colourised.

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments

My book of autochrome enhancements has had great reviews in the national press, including an article in The Times & a double-page centre-spread in The Guardian. If you've been tempted, now's time to treat yourself as my publishers have a half-price Spring Sale LINK: uk.gestalten.com/products/the...

submitted 11 days ago • 7 comments

I have cleaned & enhanced this striking autochrome by Léon Gimpel, taken 110 years ago. This boy is named Pepete - seen here in a toy monoplane afixed to a lampost along the Rue Greneta in Paris, on Sunday 19th September 1915, during the Great War. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

I have cleaned & enhanced this remarkably contemporary-looking autochrome portrait of young Henri Lumière, photographed in colour 110 years ago by his father Auguste. It is original colour from 1915, during the Great War, and isn't colourised.

submitted 6 days ago • 7 comments

I have cleaned and enhanced for you this striking autochrome portrait of a Hungarian bride, photographed exactly 100 years ago in her hometown of Mezőkövesd in northern Hungary. It was taken by visiting German photographer Hans Hildenbrand in 1925. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 7 days ago • 18 comments

I have enhanced this autochrome for you, taken 116 years ago at the first Paris Air Show (less than 6 years after the Wright Brothers' first successful flight). It was photographed in colour by Leon Gimpel at the Grande Palais, Paris, on 30th September 1909. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 8 days ago • 17 comments

No, it's not from a Christian Bale movie, this intense monk is actually Father Arthémios of the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. I've enhanced this striking autochrome, taken by French photographer Fernand Cuville 107 years ago, in September 1918. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 9 days ago • 6 comments

No, not a Versace photoshoot, this photo was actually taken 107 years ago, on Saturday 3rd March 1918. The French photographer Paul Castlenau travelled to Arabia, at a site which later became Jordan, to take this portrait of the Syrian courtier Fayz Bey el Azm. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 10 days ago • 5 comments

My book of autochrome enhancements has had great reviews in the national press, including an article in The Times & a double-page centre-spread in The Guardian. If you've been tempted, now's time to treat yourself as my publishers have a half-price Spring Sale LINK: uk.gestalten.com/products/the...

submitted 11 days ago • 7 comments

This is one of my personal favourite autochrome enhancements, just perfect for the end of a very long & tiring week: Its was taken 105 years ago by Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, but even after a century her mood is instantly relatable. It is original colour from 1920 and not colourised.

submitted 11 days ago • 47 comments

Photographed 102 years ago, this is Dana Desboro Glover (1894-1957), the second wife of the photographer Edward Steichen (1879-1973) (and it was Steichen who took this autochrome portrait). It was taken in 1923 - the year of their marriage - and it's original colour, not colourised.

submitted 12 days ago • 21 comments

Just a reminder that my publisher is having a Spring Sale for UK & US customers and selling my book at half price - £22.50 (instead of £45). The sale won't last long, so nab yourself a copy! + Free p&p uk.gestalten.com/products/the...

submitted 12 days ago • 4 comments

Sometimes an image really transports us through time - the clarity of this enhanced paget plate acts as a portal to another era. It was taken 112 years ago, before the onset of the Great War. It is the Oxfordshire village of Whitchurch-on-Thames in 1913. It is original colour and not colourised.

submitted 14 days ago • 8 comments

To commemorate St Patrick's Day, here is an enhanced autochrome from the Emerald Isle, taken 112 years ago: This a fishing family in the coastal village of An Spidéal, on the shores of Galway Bay, taken on Saturday 31st May 1913. It is original colour (not colourised).

submitted 16 days ago • 7 comments

Travel back 117 years to the Russia of 1908. I've enhanced this rare colour photo of the Russian writer Leon Tolstoy, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. It was taken in the grounds of his house at Yasnaya Polyana, Russia. It is original colour, not colourised.

submitted 18 days ago • 4 comments

Travel back 118 years to the summer of 1907 and relax in the warm Edwardian sunshine with a quenching stein of beer. This enhanced autochrome portrait of photographer Frank Eugene was taken by his friend and fellow photographer Alfred Stieglitz. It is original colour, not colourised

submitted 21 days ago • 12 comments

I've had a lot of messages recently asking if I'd consider re-activating my bluesky account and (being a pragmatic chap) I thought I'd give it a go. My last foray on this site struggled to gain any traction and it all seemed extremelyy quiet, but I'll persevere and see how things go...

submitted 21 days ago • 57 comments