# My surprise for the day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410 "2013-08-16T13:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/1 "2013-08-16T13:44:08Z")
Someone posted [this link](http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/historic-black-white-photos-colorized/) on my Facebook feed. It’s an interesting idea – colorizing old B&W photos; they seem to be fairly conscientious about it, too. Then I got to photo #8. The guy on the left is my grandfather. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/2 "2013-08-16T15:29:09Z")
I clicked the link to see if MY grandpa was in there but nope, just yours 🙂 How cool! So he’s with Albert Einstein…how’d that happen? Those photos are really great. Way different than any colorized photos I’ve seen in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/3 "2013-08-16T15:31:50Z")
Cool. I found a piece which I assume must have been written by you including another photo from the same occasion. I won’t post the link but you might want to? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/4 "2013-08-16T19:40:46Z")
That is indeed my web page. [Here’s the story](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/einstein.htm). My brother has collected it, plus other reminiscences [in a book](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0985106204/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=greabutforg-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0985106204&adid=0GCHEV8J8C13P1A31WCA&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sff.net%2Fpeople%2Frothman%2Feinstein.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/5 "2013-08-17T04:42:31Z")
> [@realitychuck](#): > > that is indeed my web page. [here’s the story](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/einstein.htm). > > My brother has collected it, plus other reminiscences [in a book](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0985106204/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=greabutforg-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkcode=as1&creativeasin=0985106204&adid=0gchev8j8c13p1a31wca&&ref-refurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sff.net%2fpeople%2frothman%2feinstein.htm). > [@](#): > > finally, he got a call from a local policeman, saying that there was this weird-looking guy who needed a haircut wandering the beach and asking for him. ha ha! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/6 "2013-08-17T10:25:58Z")
IMO, not one of those photographs is improved by the addition of colour. (although it’s cool about your grandfather) ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/7 "2013-08-17T12:56:42Z")
Very cool about your grandfather. I saw these pics earlier in the week and thought they were nicely done because you really can’t tell they weren’t originally shot in color. (Well, I can’t, anyway. I’m sure our skilled photographer Dopers can.) I love black and white photographs, but can also see how colorizing can lend a sense of currency and reality to them. Thanks for sharing. Love the anecdotes about your grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/8 "2013-08-17T13:24:12Z")
Going from B&W to Colour, or the other way around, often leads to unrealistic looking results. It takes more than technology to get it natural looking, it also takes artistry and a sense of discipline. These are very nicely done. On a side note, Audrey Hepburn was such a babe. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/9 "2013-08-17T13:26:21Z")
What a lovely story and thanks for sharing the link to your web page. I think most of the photos are better in black and white except maybe the Hepburn one. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/10 "2013-08-17T14:09:37Z")
I think the one of the unemployed lumber worker made him look very contemporary and less antiquated. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/11 "2013-08-17T14:21:38Z")
Got as far as pic #9. I’ll be in my bunk. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/12 "2013-08-17T14:42:12Z")
What a great story about your grandfather and Einstein. Your grandfather sounds like a fascinating man! The Goebbels photo (11) is one of pure evil. Gave me chills. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-for-the-day/666410/13 "2013-08-17T17:04:19Z")
Cool story about your grandpa! There was a cool photo of my great-grandfather with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk…supposedly he was a relative/friend? However, despite many in the family having seen the photo over the years - it was lost and never found again. Some nice work with colorizing the photos - but I would agree - all of those photos looked better in the original B&W versions. Call me a purist, but sometimes the B&W gives an entire new depth to a photo and the mood and the moment in time that color seems to take away.