Historical Photos Colorized | Color Grading

[Jopa79]

While the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, the foreign diplomats and their families present in Finland left Helsinki for Tallinn, Estonia to further continue the evacuation from there.

In picture: Two children of the diplomat families on S/S Donau during their journey from Helsinki to Tallinn. 3/12/1939.

Original image: SA-Kuva

 

[Jopa79]

Ralf Robert Bergh. The secretary and chairman of the Association of the Finnish Visually Impaired. Photo from circa 1890-1899. Left image: Finna/Museum of Kerava/Ståhlberg, photographer.

 

[Jopa79]

A photograph of an unidentified, young lady, circa 1880-1889. A Carde de visite photo - a type of photograph, patented in Paris in mid-1800's. These photo cards were commonly traded among friends. Left image: Vantaa City Museum/Daniel Nyblin, photographer.

 

[Jopa79]

A Red Guardsman, Alfred Lindeman photographed at ateljee with a cloth background in 1918. The source says, Lindeman was a skilled craftsman, making kicksleds and ice-rods, an ice-saw-tool. Left image: Satakunta Museum

 

[Jopa79]

A group of Finnish White Guard militiamen has settled in the picture with their weapons, 1918. Village community Viensuu, or the Protection Corps, Detachment Viensuu. Left image: Pielinen Museum

The White Guard - as well as the Red Guard - often consisted of only militiamen. The deficiently trained, or not being trained at all, the militiamen differed only slightly from the civilians while having a rifle and an armband. The White Guard - the Protection Corps - were led by the Finnish Senate and it emerged victorious over the Finnish People's Delegation, the socialist Red Guard in the Civil War of 1918.

(You can click the picture to enlarge it)

 

[Jopa79]

A White Guard boy soldier photographed at ateljee with a background cloth in 1918-1920. Left image: The Uusikaupunki Museum

The Finnish Red and White Army in the Civil War of 1918 consisted mainly of young men, some of whom were minors. Young people and children were particularly cruel in their actions because they did not have an advanced capacity for empathy and thus no understanding of the consequences of their actions. The youngest Red Guard boy in the combat forces, who was killed, was nine years old.

The average age of those who fell on the Red side was 27, and on the White side it was 23 years. The startling fact is that as many as one in five fallen Whites was a 21-year-old, which at the time was the age of majority.

 

[Jopa79]

Red Guard prisoners and the surrendered in a column at Tampere, 1918, the White Guard monitoring the event. The surrendered thinking and waiting their matter to be resolved, a sentence to the prison camp, to be shot, or to be send as a free person, to home, to see wife and kids. Left image: Siiri kuvapalvelu/Tampere Museums

The Battle of Tampere was a Finnish Civil War battle, fought from mid-March to early-April, in 1918. By then, the battle was the largest in the Nordic Countries. The White Guard wished for a decisive victory, before the German intervention to the war. Today, the battle is remembered for its bloody aftermath, the Whites executing hundreds of Red Guard soldiers at Kalevankangas Camp and capturing 11 000 Red Guard members, men and women, the minors.

The Battle of Tampere took place after the Red Guard failure in its general attack througout the Civil War front.

 

[Henry IX]

View attachment 827725
Red Guard prisoners and the surrendered in a column at Tampere, 1918, the White Guard monitoring the event. The surrendered thinking and waiting their matter to be resolved, a sentence to the prison camp, to be shot, or to be send as a free person, to home, to see wife and kids. Left image: Siiri kuvapalvelu/Tampere Museums

The Battle of Tampere was a Finnish Civil War battle, fought from mid-March to early-April, in 1918. By then, the battle was the largest in the Nordic Countries. The White Guard wished for a decisive victory, before the German intervention to the war. Today, the battle is remembered for its bloody aftermath, the Whites executing hundreds of Red Guard soldiers at Kalevankangas Camp and capturing 11 000 Red Guard members, men and women, the minors.

The Battle of Tampere took place after the Red Guard failure in its general attack througout the Civil War front.

I like the slightly lower colour saturation of this photo.

 

[Jopa79]

'Oh, in Our graceful land, would there be any other place, as the Karelia is? The never-dying, old pine trees whisper, Karelia shouts on you! We'll never be beaten by East Frost, neither by the snow, falling from the skies.'

I know. The US Civil War and the Spanish Civil War. They're probably the most well-known Civil Wars. However, there was the Finnish Civil War of 1918 also. The modern democracy was put in a test in Finland, barely declaring her independence.

'Kun uljaat punakaartilaiset marssivat, niin köyhällistö iloitsee!!! Ja lahtarin sydän vapisee!!!' - 'When the very brave (Finnish) Red Guard marches on, such a happiness and joy will reach the poverty!!! And the hearts of the butchers (White Guard) will be shaken!!!'

It was generally thought, in the country, when the Jägers return from Germany, they'll fight against the Russians, to liberate Finland. They didn't believe, the fight would occur against their own brothers, their countrymen.

The dividedness in the country, it was something, never seen before! Even the kids were called for the front, resulting, the youngest one killed in combat in the Finnish Civil War, he was a 9-years old.

 

[Jopa79]

This is only a half-done. So, it gives me a chance to ask you, which colors should I use? Or, how do you feel about work so far? It's about 18-hours of enhancing this photo until now and I think, it will take at least 6-12 hours to finish it.

The last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. Nicholass II of Russia gave support, for instance, the economic and political reforms. However, he couldn't stop the declarations of independencies by a serie of nations. During the summer seasons, the Czar Family used to visit in the Grand Duchy of Finland and spending time in various places, like playing tennis in a yard/field, just built for them.

These locations have been perished completely, those are very badly damaged, in a bad condition, or the wilderness has completely surrounded the places. However, a work is under-going in the modern times, to retain the surviving areas. In the picture, the Czar is at the Imperial Palace, nowadays, the Presidential Palace. The photo is from 1915, the Palace is turned into a military hospital of the Great War. The woman, left to Nicholas, is Sofia Seyn, wife of Franz Seyn, the last Governor-General of Finland. Franz is the second face to right from Nicholas. Franz was killed in Petrograd three years after taking this photo.

 

[Jopa79]

Finnish immigrants leaving their country for Canada. Picture is from 1951, Helsinki. Left image: Finnish Heritage Agency/UA Saarinen - photgrapher

According to the 1930 census, there were circa 400 000 immigrants, Finnish-born, or Finnish descendants living in the North America. After the WWII, the migration wave was quicken again, but this time the Finns moved rather to Canada than to the United States. For instance, in 1951, some 5 000 Finns went to Canada, as only some 250 people headed for the USA.

 

[Jopa79]

Viola Turpeinen - "the Accordion Princess of America". The text in the right bottom corner says - KAATRA STUDIO/2015 FIFTH AVENUE/NEW YORK, N.Y. Left image: The Finnish Migration Institute/Archive - Toivo Tamminen

Viola was born in 1909, Champion, Michigan, the US. An American-Finn woman, extremely popular musician, accordionist, recording for the Columbia Records. Turpeinen could still make recording during the Great Depression, while many others - with a migrant bacground - had to give up the recording. She died, harassed by a serious disease in 1958, Lake Worth, Florida, the US.

In the picture, Viola plays Special Excelsior, Model New York -accordion having her name on the middle of the instrument.

 

[ellajoan]

*I actually posted a similar thread on the OT Forum page, but the reception which I got (none) was pretty pathetic, so I decided to try again, if there was better interest in here
**Please, feel free to comment or share any kind of photos and opinions

I thought, maybe it could be fun, to post here, old, colorized photos by AI technology, or "manually colorized" using Photoshop, etc. If you are interested in color grading, I would appreciate very much, if you like to share the techniques you guys use

I'm prepared with some old colorized photos and a small quiz in here...can you connect the "dots" and merge the photos with correct stories

View attachment 757373
Photo I

View attachment 757375
Photo II

View attachment 757378
Photo III

View attachment 757385
Photo IV

A = The Finnish Whites General Headquarters arrives to welcome and accept the victory parade after the Finnish Civil War in 1918
B = Construction workers having a break during the 1920's
C = Members of an amateur photography club waiting a ferry, probably to Korkeasaari - the Helsinki Zoo during the 1890's
D = Suomen Auto - Car Finland, a Finnish car dealership sales office having specialized in selling American cars in 1928

Should not be very hard ones...

Edit: All b/w photos: Helsinki City Museum

Thanks for sharing the nostalgic images, I would like to convert it to a drawing and recommend uploading it to Varityskuvat for easy online coloring!

 

[Jopa79]

Charles Lindbergh flying for Robertson Aircraft Corporation. The plane might be DeHavilland DH-4. Photo is from the mid-1920's. Left image: Picryl/Public Domain

Robertson Aircraft Corporation was an American post-WWI aviation service company, that flew passengers and US Air Mail. Charles Lindbergh was hired for the company as a chief pilot. On two occasions, a combinations of bad weather, equipment failure and fuel exhaustion forced him to bail out while on a route at night to Chicago. Lindbergh survived the accidents without any serious injuries, but in mid-1927 he left the company for San Diego, to oversee design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis.

 

[Jopa79]

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was an early American aviator and she was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license.

At her young age, Coleman worked in a cotton field, Texas, however, in 1915 she moved to Chicago. While working there as a manicurist, Bessie heard some stories of flying from the pilots returning from the WWI and she was highly inspired and hoping she could also be a pilot and fly one day.

Bessie took a second job, having hopes, she could be a pilot. American flight schools, however, didn't accept women, neither African-Americans. So, she took French-language class and then in 1920 she traveled to Paris, to earn her pilot license.

After granted her aviation license, Bessie returned to the US and immediately became a media sensation. She became an airshow pilot and a "barnstorm" pilot.

On April, 1926, Bessie was in Florida, preparing for an airshow. She had already made three forced landings with her plane, because it was so poorly maintained. Her friends and family implored her not to fly, but Bessie went to air, to examine the terrain, because she was planning a parachute jump on the coming day.

Bessie was flying with her mechanic when suddenly the plane went on a dive and then on a spin at 3 000 feets. She was thrown out the plane at 2 000 feets and was killed instantly when she hit the ground. Her mechanic was unable to regain the control and also he died when the plane hit the ground and exploded.

Although the plane was badly burned, a wrench was discovered, used to service the engine, had jammed the controls.

Left image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#/media/File:Bessie_Coleman_in_1923.jpg

 

[Jopa79]

Betty Huyler Gillies photographed in here, sometime during 1942-1945. A woman civilian pilot did her best for the US war effort, being in a role, to free the US men air-pilots for combat missions. Gillies was a WASP member - Women Airforce Service Pilots.

During the WWII the organization's members, the civilian women pilots tested and ferried aircraft, trained other pilots, in other words, their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles.

Betty Gillies, with another WASP woman pilot, Nancy Love, were the first women to set to ferry and fly a B-17 Flying Fortress from the USA to England, but General Hap Arnold cancelled the mission.

In 1977 Gillies was awarded by a Paul Tissandier Diploma. In 1982 she was received Elder Statesman of Aviation Award.

Left image: https://picryl.com/media/betty-gillies-56ac4c

 

[Jopa79]

An English aviatrix - Amy Johnson at Mascot, New South Wales, May 1930. Left image: https://picryl.com/media/english-aviatrix-amy-johnson-at-mascot-new-south-wales-may-1930-3ba684

Amy Johnson, born in 1903. A pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. During the WWII, Johnson joined in 1940 the Air Transport Auxiliary, which transported Royal Air Force around the country.

In January, 1941, Johnson was flying a plane transport mission on a bad weather. Reportedly out of fuel, she bailed out near Herne Bay. A convoy of vessels had spotted Johnson's parachute to coming down and saw her alive in the water, calling for help. The rescuers threw ropes out to Johnson, but she was unable to reach them and Johnson was lost under the rescuers' ship.

 

[Jopa79]

Original text says: 'A mail carrier waiting for a tram'. Helsinki, July 1941. Left image: SA-Kuva

During the wartime, while the men went for the front, the women had to take care of the homefront.

Also, the male postmen dissappeared from the city streets.

This young woman is delivering mail, newspapers and magazines during wartime Helsinki. She is waiting for a tram, to get more quickly to her delivery area.

 

[Jopa79]

Policemen lifting sandbags to protect windows of a police department building against air-raids. The man on the left might be an officer, a boss. 1st October, 1939. Left image: SA-Kuva/unknown photographer

After signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in late summer of 1939, a Finnish worry was quickly raisen, the country might end into a war against her will. The preparations were minimal, the appropriations for the military in very low level.

During the autumn, however, having a great haste, the readiness of civil defense and air-raid precautions were put in place in the cities, the fortifications at the border were prepared and the army was mobilized.

 

[Jopa79]

A Delage racecar. Left image: Helsinki City Museum/Eric Sundström - photographer. Click image to enlarge it.

Delage was a French luxury automobile and racecar company operating during 1905-1953.

Eläintarha (Zoo) is still a large park area near the center of Helsinki. Originally, an actual zoo was planned to be established there, but eventually the Helsinki Zoo was founded at Korkeasaari.

However, "Eläintarhan ajot" was a Finnish Grand Prix for racecars and motorcycles until 1963 and the last race at Eläintarha park area.