Black-and-white photographs
History · Early Years · The School
No colour yet
The very first cameras could not show colour. They could only show light and dark. That made a photo black and white. Some old photos have a brown tint instead. This is called sepia. Colour cameras came much later. That was many years after the first ones. It was a very long wait. Black and white was simply all that could be done.
Sitting very still
An old camera took a long time to make one photo. People had to sit still. They had to stay still for many seconds. Even a tiny move could blur the whole shot. That is why people in old photos rarely smile. Holding a smile that long is hard. Try it now. Count to twenty without moving your face at all.
A photograph as a clue
A black-and-white photo can still tell you a lot. It shows clothes. It shows buildings and faces. It just cannot show their colour. A torn edge, or a stain, can be a clue too. So can a date written on the back. Look closely at every other clue you can find.
Look at an old photo of a street. No colour, but plenty of clues. The clothes look old-fashioned. There are no cars. Only horses and carts. Nobody is smiling. Sitting still took a long time. The shop signs are painted, not lit up. Four clues. Not one of them needed colour to spot.