The following are all images that were taken in 1941 and 1942 by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. These are large-format Kodachromes (4x5) that were posed, as studies for recruitment posters, and exhibits (propaganda, my friend). There are hundreds of them in the Library of Congress FSA/OWI archive, which means they are public domain. I found them on Shorpy, which calls itself the 100-Year-Old Photo Blog, and brings many of these public domain images to light, and also offers high-quality archival prints of them here. I have spent many, many hours on this site, and I just can't get enough of it. I mean, these Kodachromes! Can you believe it? Shorpy has caption information and larger versions of these images here.
I mean, I knew about the FSA photographs (mostly b&w) by the likes of Dorothea Lange and Lewis Hine and Walker Evans and others, but I just totally missed these.
*There's more!
What else are you trying to insinuate, Alfred? (other than war means jobs and bravery...)
Also: Turns out The Library of Congress has a flickr! See more of the large-format color images from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (by many photographers), created between 1939 and 1944. The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division also preserves the original photographs and offers the digital copies to ensure their wide availability.
Is my mind the only one that is blown?
Stumble Upon
You're not the only one, I can't get enough of the images from Shorpy, and particularly the Kodachromes - it makes such a difference to see 40's life in glorious colour.
wow... Totally mindblowing post. Too bad this emulsion isn´t being made anymore. Totally masterworks. The most beautiful propaganda I´ve seen in ages.
No, no your not the only one... WOW, great stuff!
It's absolutely amazing how the first image looks like it's out of the Strobist.com flickr stream
Well, gues what! Alfred Palmer was my dad. And i didn't know until recently that he was one of the first commercial American photographers to shoot in color. Thousands of black and white images though. He saw the world through his lenses and captured much of it on film for over 50 years.