LIFE photo archive hosted by Google.
November 18, 2008 10:30 AM Subscribe
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google. Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Go.
(Maybe the 1759 refers to the date one of the paintings was painted? But that seems disingenuous at the very least.)
posted by DU at 10:49 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by DU at 10:49 AM on November 18, 2008
I might believe it was 1759 if Mozart was in the photo. Or maybe not. What years were Mozart alive?
posted by wendell at 10:53 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by wendell at 10:53 AM on November 18, 2008
It's probably some sort of mistake. The first set of photos on the homepage is from the 1860s, which makes more sense.
posted by chunking express at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by chunking express at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2008
Wow! Neat. Why does it seem to max out at 200 images? Bourke-White? 200 images. Poet? 200 images.
posted by steef at 11:02 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by steef at 11:02 AM on November 18, 2008
From what I can tell many (all?) these images were already available on gettyimages.com archive. They have no watermark now, but that's the only difference.
posted by fire&wings at 11:14 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by fire&wings at 11:14 AM on November 18, 2008
Getty images isn't as commonly browsed as Google Images, I'd imagine. So these images are now available to a wider audience, and without watermarks.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on November 18, 2008
kinda lame. Searching for eg. Tokyo or Saigon returns the photos from 3 or 4 stories and that's it, apparently. Still, seeing a large-format picture does really leap out at you compared to what you see in a magazine, a la The Boston Globe's Big Picture feature.
posted by troy at 11:53 AM on November 18, 2008
posted by troy at 11:53 AM on November 18, 2008
"Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos."
posted by Knappster at 12:09 PM on November 18, 2008
posted by Knappster at 12:09 PM on November 18, 2008
More photographs from the 1750s.
posted by Knappster at 1:02 PM on November 18 [+] [!]
Where "photograph" = "engraving." Check.
I didn't realize Life was being published pre-American Revolution.
w tee f
posted by troy at 1:57 PM on November 18 [+] [!]
Yeah, that vignetting is terrible, you think they'd've cropped that a bit.
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:09 PM on November 18, 2008
posted by Knappster at 1:02 PM on November 18 [+] [!]
Where "photograph" = "engraving." Check.
I didn't realize Life was being published pre-American Revolution.
w tee f
posted by troy at 1:57 PM on November 18 [+] [!]
Yeah, that vignetting is terrible, you think they'd've cropped that a bit.
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:09 PM on November 18, 2008
Well this is going to eat up my afternoon! It only took me a few seconds to find an ape participating in a study of ape addiction to TV.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:34 PM on November 18, 2008
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:34 PM on November 18, 2008
This is a fun post! The neat thing about huge image archives though is sniffing out the dupes...
Walter Elias Disney, 1950s portrait photo
The exact same portrait a search page later, now either weathered (note tears and tone), or just flat out faded sepia.
posted by cavalier at 1:06 PM on November 18, 2008
Walter Elias Disney, 1950s portrait photo
The exact same portrait a search page later, now either weathered (note tears and tone), or just flat out faded sepia.
posted by cavalier at 1:06 PM on November 18, 2008
Random photos of note:
Radio Dies on Mountaintop
Love Holder Cigarette
International Surf
Ice Bicycle
posted by Rashomon at 2:04 PM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]
Radio Dies on Mountaintop
Love Holder Cigarette
International Surf
Ice Bicycle
posted by Rashomon at 2:04 PM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]
w tee f
They're just there to make sure the pinsetters don't form a union.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:36 PM on November 18, 2008 [2 favorites]
They're just there to make sure the pinsetters don't form a union.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:36 PM on November 18, 2008 [2 favorites]
This one is pretty horrifying.
(Great post!)
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:50 PM on November 18, 2008
(Great post!)
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:50 PM on November 18, 2008
Great stuff! Now let's just hope they don't take it down after a month, like the last cool thing they did.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:52 PM on November 18, 2008
posted by Rhaomi at 8:52 PM on November 18, 2008
Fantastic stuff, thanks for the link.
posted by paisley henosis at 9:40 PM on November 18, 2008
posted by paisley henosis at 9:40 PM on November 18, 2008
Every single picture saves as c.jpg. That's pretty evil.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:45 AM on November 19, 2008
posted by stinkycheese at 9:45 AM on November 19, 2008
The Best of LIFE blog, displaying images from Google and Flickr Commons.
posted by Korou at 11:40 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by Korou at 11:40 AM on December 8, 2008
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posted by starman at 10:45 AM on November 18, 2008