Several friends and blog readers told me about this colorized image of the Hindenburg disaster and I wanted to share it with anyone who may have missed it.
While it was this image that brought Dana Keller’s work to my attention, all of his work is impressive. It allows us to see historical figures as real people and thanks to Dana we can imagine having a face-to-face chat with Babe Ruth, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, or even Lewis Powell in a way that is hard to do with a black-and-white image.
(And Madame Curie was quite a babe, no? Too soon?)
Seriously, I encourage you to spend some time looking at Dana’s work at History in Color on Facebook, and similar images by Dana and other talented artists can also be seen here and here.
(A final note about this Hindenburg image that should go without saying: Naturally this should not be used as a historical document illustrating the actual color of the Hindenburg flames for the purpose of analyzing the cause or progress of the fire. But as a way to imagine what it might have felt like to witness the disaster, Dana’s image is spectacular.)
And on a quick personal note, I apologize that the blog has been so quiet lately; I will try to keep it more lively in the next few months. 🙂
Babe Ruth
Marie Curie

H. G. Wells

Lewis Powell
Babe Ruth, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, and Lewis Powell colored by Dana Keller.
Spectacular! While I’ve seen more than a few colorized photographs over the years, Mr. Keller’s work is truly high quality.
‘Love the color, Dan! I agree with your rationale, but I think the BW still has inherent qualities color will never replace, like a possibility of extracting details and mood (through contrast) that would otherwise disappear in a twirl of light. Still, interesting. (I deal with that often in my… Read more »