The vintage look and old-school technique meet fine art photography

As a little girl I would visit my grandmother’s house in St. Louis for holidays and summers, and on the wall in the living room lined up are the senior portraits of my mother and her six brother’s and sisters with their tassels hanging from the corner. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in their house and I always remember looking at each of them, noting the 60’s-70’s hair-cuts, and how pretty all my aunts look lined up there. Another distinctive aspect always drew my attention to the first four portraits of my mom and three of her sisters. They went to an all-girls Catholic school, and the portraits at their school were taken in black and white and then hand-colored. Very snazzy and popular at the time, I’m sure. I remember asking my mom about it at some point, and she explained the process that they were really black and white photos that had been painted over.

This process has become less popular over the years, obviously once color photos became all the rage and especially now that with a few mouse clicks one can create that similar vintage look in Photoshop. I tried to hand-color some black and whites myself once, after a homeless kid gave me a brand new set of photographic paints (this is a story for a different time, but for now let’s just say I am very easy talk to). At any rate, I got out a print from my black and white class and attempted to color it in. This was not easy. Not only do you have to blend the colors to look just right, but it takes such a delicate hand to keep the paint from ending up in globs all over your print. As an antsy 18 year old, I found the process too frustrating to perfect. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the process had gone extinct…

Enter Egyptian photographer Youssef Nabil. His inspiration stems from his childhood love of old Egyptian movies and movie stars and his hand painted prints reflect a nostalgia nearly everyone can relate to. He is one of the few photographers left that hand paints his photographs. He has created numerous portraits of actors, performers and artists, and has even shot some near-household names including David Lynch, Tracy Emin and Alicia Keys. While the hand painted process has come full circle and returned to a state of novelty, look past the color and you find a set of poignant photographs that convey a sense of honesty in each of his subjects. It’s no wonder his work has been displayed all over the world.

Shirin Neshat – Casablanca 2007, Hand colored gelatin silver print. ©Youssef Nabil

Nabil’s images bring more than that old Hollywood nostalgia. For me, at least, they also take me back to my grandmother’s living room.