Blue Skies

This photo was number 38 on The Atlantic website, depicting the Allied soldiers on the Western Front. According to the caption, it was an experiment with color photo technology known as the Paget Process, which is partly why I chose this photo for this assignment in the War and Technology unit. It represents technological advancements not limited to war technology. Although it is a primitive attempt compared to the other advances in color photography, the impact of the Paget Process on this photograph in particular is interesting to think about. I have to believe civilians at home would have been impressed by the color technology used for the photograph. Any photograph of the soldiers looking content and safe at the very least would have been of some comfort to those at home. In the case of this photo, I cannot tell if the three blankets are covering bodies or just lying on the ground, but the rest of the soldiers look fairly content, and a few appear to be smiling. Imagine being a mother, sister, or wife looking at this photo with bits of color, recognizing the technological progress, and contemplating how precious a colored photo of their loved one’s face would be. If during this catastrophic moment in their lives they were to lose a loved one, at least they may have had the hope of treasuring a colored picture of them, just as they are remembered. Although only the sky is represented in color in this photo, perhaps the hope of further advancement resonated with the civilian people.

            The contrast of the blue sky in particular against the grey of the rest of the photo would have caught the attention of the civilians. Blue skies are associated with sunshine, which would have been clouded by the battle smoke. The clouds are even visible if one looks closely, and there is almost no possibility of the sky being that blue in reality. But this photo, whether by Paget Process accident, modern color enhancement by the Atlantic website, or something else, is suggesting that light was cast on this dark moment in the civilian’s loved one’s lives. The sky at home is probably as grey and dismal as the sky on the battlefield due to the proximity of the war front. The image of an exaggeratedly blue sky above the Western Front must have been a refreshing and hopeful sight.