I was going through boxes of old family photos recently, which sadly can only mean one thing: I was finding photos for a celebration of life. In this case, it was for my mother, who had recently passed. It’s not an easy task, but there is comfort to be found in the images.
The Older Photos Looked Better Than the Newer Ones
By around the third box, something became very clear (literally), which I wasn’t expecting. The oldest photos looked better than the newer ones. The photos of me in the 1970s and 1980s didn’t look nearly as good as the photos of my mom from the 1950s and 1960s.
And I don’t mean in a better-posed or fancier-framed way, but literally the sharpness, the vivid color, and the tones.
More Photos Meant Less Quality
Everyone’s faces were clear. You could see every blade of grass, the strokes in the make-up, and the clothing looked pristine. My photos in which I appear look — as they say today — as if they were taken with a potato.
MORE: 31 Everyday ’70s Objects That Would Confuse Gen Z Today
This was all thanks to convenience. The ’50s and ’60s were the Kodachrome years, before “pocket” cameras like Instamatic took over. And with convenience and speed came a drop in quality. Kodachrome also made the colors stronger, not only visually, but in a way that actually held up over time, even when exposed to light. So while the technology made it easier to take more photos, the increase in quantity came with a decrease in quality. It’s part of why we see the ’70s as a darker, more muted decade.
That takes us to the incredible Kodachrome and run-of-the-mill photos from the ’50s and ’60s that still exist today in boxes, photo albums, and hanging on walls, looking vibrant and full of life as ever. They make the celebrations of life — including my mom’s — more colorful and full of the life they were quietly holding onto the whole time.
Let’s take a look at 50 photos of average families from those decades, taking part in the mundane and sometimes fun activities that made up everyday life — captured in color that, six decades later, still hasn’t faded.
LOOK: These Color Photos Vividly Capture the Everyday Moments of Life in the ’50s and ’60s
Think you know the ’50s and ’60s? Spoiler alert: days at the beach, walking to school, hula hooping in the backyard — it was all filled with colors you might never expect.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
