Turkish Artist Gives Life to Old Photograph
[Reproduced with permission from the website of the Free Church of Scotland here]
Tolga Unker, a Turkish based artist with a keen interest in Scottish church history, has used his talents to bring to life a black and white photograph of Free Church of Scotland Moderators captured in 1860. The digitally colourised image, taken in New College on Edinburgh’s Mound, shows nine moderators who served from 1848-1860.
We asked Tolga if he could tell us more about his process and why he’s keen to colourise photographs like these.
“Generally, I work in several different mediums such as acrylic, oil, watercolor, pastels, and charcoal. I have also done the colourisation of old and iconic black and white photos. I do this with either printout or digitally.”
“With black and white photographs, it is clear to the viewer that these pictures had been taken a very long time ago. A precise and detailed colourisation of these images transforms them into modern and relatable scenes that give the feeling of having been photographed more recently.”
Tolga has previously colorised holocaust images which were used for a memorial exhibition in the Quincentennial Foundation Jewish Museum of Turkey.
For more on Tolga and his work visit https://www.facebook.com/YusufTolgaUnkerArt.
For more information on these Moderators, use the following links:
Robert Buchanan, Moderator, 1860
Patrick Clason, Moderator, 1848
William Cunningham, Moderator, 1859
James Grierson, Moderator, 1854
James Henderson, Moderator, 1855
Nathaniel Paterson, Moderator, 1850
John Smyth, Moderator, 1853
James J. Wood, Moderator, 1857
The artist has also colourised James Begg and David Welsh. For more information of these men, see James Begg and David Welsh.