A Hand Tinted Photograph From 1955

 

It's a photo I've been familiar with since I was almost 10-1/2 years old - a picture of we four siblings taken April 21, 1955. Baby brother Leslie Louis was 14 mos, 4 days old. Ronald was just shy of his 15th birthday and Betty was 8-1/2. Ron was the only one of us who had blue eyes.

If I remember correctly, the traveling photographer was sponsored by the Gamble's Store. His camera was upstairs, which during the Christmas season, became toyland.

So even though this picture has been around a long time, I had never seen the back of it before, nor thought about how it appeared in color. Besides the date, noted by Mom, glued on the back is a handwritten note, made by the photographer, delineating the following: 

"Girl Back - H. med Brown, E. Brown, Jacket red"

"Girl Front - H. med Brown, E. Brown, Sweater-red & white, Plants-Blue"

"Big Boy - H. med Brown, E. Blue, T Shirt-White, Shirt-red-white-blue & green Plaid, Jacket collar, Navy & lt. Blue, Pants-Blue"

"Baby - H. m. Brown, E. Brown, Shirt-white, Pants-Blue - red & white & blue Plaid, Shoes-white"

Now, when almost everyone has a phone with a built in camera, color pictures and videos are a mere seconds away. It's interesting to take a look back at what a hand tinted photograph used to involve.