Fascinating 19th photos taken at the world’s oldest photography studio have been brought back to life – using cutting-edge AI technology.
WW Winter Ltd in Derby opened in 1867 and has been taking pictures of weddings, christenings and fashion shoots ever since.
The photography studio has amassed a staggering archive of over a million snaps of people and styles from across the ages.
The studio – the oldest and longest running in the world – is now bringing the past to life using 21st century AI technology.
Modern methods have been used to digitise the studio’s vast archive and to bring colour and even movement to photos shot 159 years ago.
Simon Vaughan, Heritage & Volunteer Co-ordinator, said: ‘You can literally open a door and step back in time.
‘Nothing has been done to the studio other than the odd bit of painting.
‘You are standing in a space where millions of people have had their photographs taken.
Photos taken at the world’s oldest photography studio have been brought back to life using AI (made with AI)
WW Winter Ltd in Derby opened in 1867 and has been taking pictures of weddings, christenings and fashion shoots ever since (made with AI)
The photography studio has amassed a staggering archive of over a million snaps of people and styles from across the ages (made with AI)
‘Even some of the furniture we can date to well over a hundred years ago, from photographs taken here in the 1880s and 1890s.
‘Factories, businesses, civic leaders and workers. Weddings, christenings, school portraits.
‘The studio served people of every background. There is nowhere quite like it.’
The studio is now using AI technology to add colour and animation to hundreds of images taken more than a century ago.
Simon added: ‘When you put the images through AI the technology really brings them to life. In some pictures it’s even filled in the lace curtains in the background.
‘In another a glamorous lady is pictured with a cigarette and the AI animation has made the woman puff out a plume of smoke while she looks a the camera.
‘It is astounding what is able to be achieved now.’
The studio was one of the last in the UK to continue using glass plate negatives, switching to digital in the early 2000s.
The studio – the oldest and longest running in the world – is now bringing the past to life using 21st century AI technology
Simon Vaughan, Heritage & Volunteer Co-ordinator, said: ‘You can literally open a door and step back in time. Nothing has been done to the studio other than the odd bit of painting’
The photography studio has amassed a staggering archive of over a million snaps of people and styles from across the ages
The same room is still used today to take pictures, continuing the legacy of the studio
The studio is now using AI technology to add colour and animation to hundreds of images taken more than a century ago (made with AI)
‘The studio served people of every background. There is nowhere quite like it,’ Mr Vaughan said (made with AI)
The transition came when a phone call arrived to say the final box of glass plates had been dispatched. There were no more.
Walter William Winter took over the photography business from his boss, Emmanuel Nicolas Charles in 1863.
In 1867 he built a brand-new purpose-built daylight photography studio on what had been a grazing yard beside Derby’s Midland Hotel.
The business has run uninterrupted ever since with the current photographer Louisa Fuller, who started part-time in 1990.
The 51-year-old was taught by previous owner Herbert King whose grandfather William Henry King took over the studio in 1910.
Louisa said: ‘I started as a Saturday girl in 1990 under Herbert and just never left.
‘There is so much history here it’s like a studio combined with a museum.
‘In the earliest days there was no electricity which meant no flash so all photography was daytime.
‘That meant the studio had to be light from windows in the front and in the ceiling to give the photographers as much time to do their shots.
‘The business photographed everything from christenings and christenings to portraits of prisoners of war.
‘The company also did corporate photography so we have almost all of the original businesses and industry which opened in Derby.’
In order to preserve the business, Louisa and co-owner Angela Leeson successfully applied for a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The studio is opening its doors to the public to explore its remarkable archive this weekend.
