[Leica] If the world was black & white

[Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com>]

Son: Dad, how come old photographs are always black & white? Didn't they have
color film back then? Dad: Sure they did. In fact those old photographs ARE in
color. It's just the WORLD was black & white then. 
Son: Really? Dad: Yep.The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s,
and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too. 
Son: That's really weird. 
Dad: Well, truth is stranger than fiction. 
Son: But then why are old PAINTINGS in color?! If the world was black & white,
wouldn't artists have painted it that way? 
Dad: Not necessarily, alot of great artist were insane. 
Son: But... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their
paints have been shades of gray back then? 
Dad: Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the 30s. 
Son: So why didn't old black & white photos turn color too? 
Dad: Because they were color pictures of black & white, remember? 
Son: The world is a complicated place.

from an old Calvin and Hobbes

Mark William Rabiner