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Bellviure got into colorizing about 6 years ago, just before starting an Archaeology degree. "Oddly enough, both are related," he told Bored Panda. "I see photographs like an archaeological dig: they are closed contexts that contain a lot of cultural material. It sometimes can be dated really precisely, but just like an archaeological record, we sometimes can only date a picture between one or two decades."
The artist has always been fascinated with how old stills containing so many artifacts, landscapes, and curious interactions seem so captivating but so distant at the same time.
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"I was appalled by some real color photographs from World War II. At the same time, I was reading about the New Guinea campaign. When I decided I wanted to give colorization a try, I found the first candidate: a picture of a cassowary named Oscar posing with an Australian Lieutenant in New Guinea. I tried using some online services that did a really poor job, but it felt mesmerizing at the moment."
After all this time, the only thing in Bellviure's colorization process that hasn't changed is what he calls archaeological research. "In a similar way to how amphoras and potsherds are researched in handbooks and insignificant pieces of pottery, if researched correctly, it can date a whole context, researching a photograph can be time-consuming but also valuable. Sometimes a uniform, a brand or a style can help to date an undated still." Bellviure also highlighted that in order to succeed at colorizing a photo, it is essential to pinpoint the exact colors that were in the frame.
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Once he is done with the research and has all the details written down, the artist starts the actual restoration process. "I do both restoration and colorization through Adobe Photoshop. Firstly, I adjust the lighting, contrast, and noise in a picture. Then I 'clean' it by manually deleting all the 'dots' and corrosion."
Bellviure said the colorization process is rather simple but he's constantly switching between different methods to see what works best.
"I like colorizing because it is like excavating a site. You divide the process by layers, and each layer needs to be researched and matched with the most accurate colors. Over the years, the eye gets used to seeing black and white images already in color and it is really enjoyable."
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However, Bellviure said that often no matter how close you've looked at a picture, a small detail can always pop out and surprise you. It can be a little something behind a table or inside a pocket, like a piece of jewelry, and it can reveal plenty about the picture, for example, its reflection might tell what part of the day the picture was taken at. So you always need to stay vigilant.
Sometimes, Bellviure even 'restores' lost memories that otherwise may have died with time. "I once tried to colorize an archive picture of an unnamed captive from the Spanish Civil War. It turned out to be an unknown picture of Irish Brigadier Frank Ryan. Something similar happened with the last picture of Gerda Taro, that was collectively identified after Sir John Kiszely had posted it on Twitter."
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"Some people are against colorizing," the artist said. "They [say that by going through this process, the picture loses its meaning]. [But I feel that] leaving a picture in black and white should be mandatory only in academic research; it should not be restored either, because every detail ought to be left in its original state."
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"We luckily work with a scanned version of the picture, so the original is not altered and we always count on [it to remain unaltered]. Now, I find that most romanticizing views on black and white are not related to this fact, but to an idealization of the past that is usually related to the idea of 'leaving the past as it is. These ideas are usually related to especially raw and debated themes of our recent past. When it comes to the Holocaust, for example, many people would prefer to leave these pictures untouched. I believe not colorizing these pictures means betraying our past."
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"All events in history have happened in color; photographers from the early 20th century would have shot in color if they had the opportunity (Robert Capa did when he was offered the chance). Colorizing is nothing more than a kind of restoration, it brings back to reality something that was lost or that is imperceptible. Restoration can never be completely precise, but like paintings, detail can be restored with an amazing level of accuracy."
Bellviure believes that all pictures should get this chance.
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