Introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, autochromes were the very first form of color photography until it was comprehensively replaced by film in the mid-1900s. In 2024, just one man perseveres with the autochrome process.
Autochromes were the first widely available form of color photography but they are so light-sensitive that putting them on display could ruin them forever.
Back in 1909, a super-rich French banker named Albert Kahn decided to create a photographic record of the world using the new color photography process that had just appeared, the Autochrome Lumière. He commissioned 4 photographers to take their cameras to places all over the world. One of the cities they documented was Paris.
Mervyn O'Gorman was an English engineer whose artistic interests turned him into one of the early pioneers of color photography. Using the Autochrome Lumière process that was launched in 1907, O'Gorman shot images that are now regularly featured in exhibitions of early color photos.
Among his best known works are a series of color photos of his daughter, Christina, taken in 1913.