i will say one word, and only one word, for there is only one word to say:


AMAZING

Its been awhile since I last posted any new images on this thread, but here's a new one I've been working on.
These are men of the either the /6, 1/8 or 1/9 Bn Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders outside the Gordon Arms castle Rd, Bedford circa 1914/15.
the original b/w photograph is from the' Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service' sent to me by my good friend, forum member Richard Galley a.k.a "Piper"
Some of these men are in trews others in kilts at least 3 of the men are missing their cap badges. Has Richard mentiond to me, no big surprise given the early period of the war and shortage of equipment the Territorials had to face at this time.



More to follow
Regards
Chris

close ups




more to come

This chap as got to be my favourite, a real defiant look about him. not one to cross after a few beers



More to come

Chris

Again another amazing transformation!

Do tell when the book is planned for publishing?

Andy

really nice pics,makes me want to have a go at my own! thanks for sharing julie

Hi Chris,

Another superb piece of work. I suggest that the original photo was taken late August / early Sept '14 given the state of the light, contents of pub's window boxes and foliage on the tree next to the pub.

The pub's still there and recently underwent a major refurb by its owners Charles Well (I and a couple of other pipers were hired to play at the re-opening bash). It now boasts a sign with a painting of scarlet-tuniced Gordon Highlanders on the march.

The eagle eyed might have already noticed the partially obscured plaque on the wall of the pub below the 'Castle Road' street sign. The wording on the plaque is "East Anglian Royal Engineers". Can anyone explain what this would be for. Some sort of muster point, maybe???

The resolution of these early camera lenses is absolutely amazing!

Thank you both
Andy the book is still in the negotiation stage with the publishers. its looking like its going to be a long game, nothing confirmed yet, but if and when Peter Doyle & myself sign on the dotted line I will let the forum know.

A Piper /Stretcher bearer with a copy of The News of the World newspaper at his feet, shame I cant read the date.

Richard,
Thank you the correction on the date
your quite right about the foilage, it would make perfect sense to be late summer early autumn

Regards
Chris

This is the same spot today outside The Gordon Arms 2008 , photo kind permission of Richard Galley



And the 1914 image again

stunning. just stunning.many thanks for showing,jamesbow

amazing work
keep it up
tafski

Maybe the guy in # 254 was p----d off he was dragged away from his pint to get photographed.
That's great work,my wife's great uncle was 1/8th A&SH,been trying to see him.Wouldn't it be great to see him.
Thanks again
Mike

Chris,

Heavens, not a correction on the date, merely a suggested narrowing down!

For those not already in the know, the soldiers in this photograph were members of the Territorial Force who had travelled south from Scotland to the Highland Division's war station in Bedford (c.50 miles North of London) shortly after mobilisation at the outbreak of hostilities in early August 1914. Just short of 20,000 men arrived in the Town in the space of a few days, almost doubling the Borough's population. Some of the troops lived under canvas in Bedford's parks and green areas, others were accommodated in previously empty houses or billeted on households within the Borough. The Division stayed in Bedford until May 1915 when it left for France.

The cultural impact of this friendly invasion of the Town makes for an interesting piece of social and military history. The local population readily took the Highlanders to its collective heart (as the regulars at the Gordon Arms would have probably testified as they posed for the camera!) and for many months after the Division's departure, Bedford's Press reported news of the Highlanders progress, losses, individual deeds, promotions etc., in the same way and nearly to the same extent as it covered the activities of the local Regiment.

For anyone who's interested in finding out a bit more about the Highland Division's time in Bedford take a few moments to check-out the thread on this Forum - "Bedfordshire WW1 - Pictures of my home county" in 'Homes and POWs'. Well worth a read.

Regards

Richard

Mike,

Can you give us more info on your wife's great uncle?

Richard

Great work as ever. I expect it is the monitor I am viewing on, but I wondered if you have missed the face of the chap far right? Cheers, Paul.

Oi ! What are you trying to do Chris, pinch our Camera Returns spot in Stand To! ??????
Wonderfull, 1914 looks like this summer, err perhaps not.............
Bob

Chris: I am speechless and in awe of your colourization talents or at least technical expertise! Imagine all those hand-coloured prints of the 19th century and earlier! In fact you might wish to touch only upon this in your hopefully in near future upcoming book. Another point for future posts here AND in your book - you might wish to a fair extent but not invariably include 1) original b & w photo 2) your colourized version AND 3) MODERN photo of same place. 2) and 3) for sure will greatly assist you in selling more copies of the book! All the best and keep colouring!
Thanks,
John

Mike,

Can you give us more info on your wife's great uncle?

Richard

Hi Richard.
His name was Angus Ferguson McPhee,Pte S/7191 1/8th A&SH,enlisted Bromley,was staying the Malt House Ash,working as farmhand.DOW 17/5/1917.He enlisted on 26/12/1914 along with his elder brother Dugald McPhee S/7192 ,obviously behind Angus in the queue.Dugald survived and died early 1937 Malling.
Dugald doesn't seem to have gone to France same time as Angus,was injured,perhaps in training.
Angus's records on ancestry,nothing on Dugald.
Any info would be wonderful.Will keep trawling all photos,be fantastic to see them.
Great thread,cheers Mike

The color photo of the Argyll and Sutherlands at the Bedford Arms is just incredible!

All the best,
Dan

Truly simply amazing, puts my efforts to shame.

Nice to see the then and now comparison.

well done Chris

regards

Alex

The Gordon Arms' sign as it appears today. The pub was named in honour of General Gordon (of Khartoum), rather than the regiment!!

Richard

Hope you don't mind Chris but I took the liberty!

Then and Now

regards

Alex

Mind Blowing

Dan

Chris,

I have just stumbled onto this thread and must add my admiration for your work. One could well imagine seeing your work more often, not only in your own book, but also as cover images for other authors works.

Absolutely superb,

Hendo

Thank you very much for your comments. I'm very pleased that there is so much interest in this thread, its very encouraging.

Paul, I see what you mean about the chaps face on the extreme right it does look a little grey in colour
I've added a bit more colour to his cheeks, and with a little luck it its improved him . The fact that he was moving as the photo was taken doesn't help.


Bob I couldn't come close to what you been doing with Camera Returns its my favourite part of "Stand To"

Alex I the like effect of the two images together, Ghosts at the Gordon Arms !

John I like the idea of posting the original b/w image along with the colourised image
so I've added it to post 260

Just to underline the Bedfordshire thread, Richard and others have been involved in. , a lot of hard work as gone into it, well worth looking at.
here's the link http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...showtopic=57141

Kindest Regards
Chris

Hi Chris your work is of the highest calibre, and you should be commended, In the end, the world was not lived or viewed in B/W but in colour, because these were real people with real lives, lived in a real world of their time (And in colour). Your colourization bring a degree of reality and normality into all the images you post. I just hope that with time, my efforts will match the one's you have posted

best regards

Alex K

Chris,

I've been a member for a couple of years, posting very rarely other than when doing bits of family research, but I have enjoyed browsing the threads and being fascinated by the information and knowledge that members have at their fingertips. Somehow, I'd missed this thread and your brilliant pictures, but having found them I just wanted to add my own congratulations on your marvellous efforts and those of others who are bringing these great images to life.

This be will one of my regular browsing threads from now on.

Well done!

Tom

Two new images this time both kindly sent to me by forum member 4thGordons from his collection
The first is
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders gun section team at Bedford





Chris

second image





More to come later

close up


more later

Hi Chris, once again truly amazing, the second closer image could have been taken yesterday with one of those new fangled digital cameras, (Trusty old Nikon films for me)

regards

Alex K

Thank you Alex

Hi Chris,

I've come and gone on this thread at various times - you've done wonderful work! It sounds like the book will be one of 'results', have you considered a book on 'how to' as well or instead? I'd love to read a detailed account.

Regards,

Peter

Peter, I've done the same.

Chris, fair dinkum. What you do here leaves us sitting with open mouths in stunned silence. Those photo's are outrageous they are that good.

Please, we need more!

Cheers Andy.

Please excuse my spelling . It was about the umpteenth time I'd tried to post these images and in my frustration and haste I rattled them off without checking for mistakes.

Chris

Once again, Chris, outbloodystanding!!!

Thanks chaps

Another crop

An excellent set of pictures as usual - just one minor tweak if I may suggest, the strap coming out of this chaps pocket (for a watch probably) would be leather, but seems to have ended up the same colour as his tunic...

Forget that,Andrew.
Just look at the blimmin scope!!!
Oh,bliss

Chris?
Can you do a close up of the bloke bottom right to see his bundook too,please?
Dave.

Ah, you've spotted my deliberate mistake..uhmm
Thank you Andrew, your absolutely right it should be leather. Image altered




Here we are Dave


close up

Hi Peter, Many thanks
I don't know if it would fill a book really. The most important key to a good colourised image, is the quality of the original photograph. The second image of the group of Gordons is really good example .Its a clean image in focus and plenty of good contrast without being to washed out or to dark. if you pick a less than average B/w image your colourised result will be less than average . Perhaps out of every ten images I look at maybe two will be good enough to work on
Keeping the colours subtle as possible is another key. It is very easy to be heavy handed with colours, Less is more, I'd rather have colour a shade or two lighter than a shade or two brighter.

I try to keep to the shades of colours to the left of the black line on the colour palette. If you went beyond that line and further over to the right. you would run the risk of having to don shades to look at the results.



Chris

Following your advice I tweaked my effort, I posted earlier, by reducing colour saturation slightly and increasing the brightness, any better?

regards

Alex

Can I make a request?

I've just learned that my Grandfather served with 431 Siege Battery, equipped with 12in howitzers.

Any chance you could work your magic on a picture of one of those brutes?


John

Alex that is a lot better,
I hope you don't mind I had a little play, I reduced the colour saturation a wee bit more and tweaked the RGB level just a tad towards the high end of the scale.



Regards
Chris

John,
I would be more than happy to have a go if you have a good photo that you own. I can't use I.W.M images as I'd could be in breach of copyright.

Regards
Chris

Ah! Sorry - haven't got one, I'm afraid.


But if I find one...


Thanks.

Chris

I've been dipping in and out since you first posted and all your work is fantastic. I have a (pretty good) photo of my grandfather (RGA) and wondered if you would "have a go" with it. I'd be delighted if you could/would.

If the answer's 'yes', would you let me know how best to send it to you?

In anticipation.

Cheers - Mabel