Take a look at these photos. They’re clearly vintage, but their rich color must mean they’re not too old, right? You might not believe it at first, but these photos are actually 102 years old.

That’s right. These are some of the earliest color photos ever produced. The process was called Autochrome Lumiere, which used glass photographic plates coated in potato starches. Once coated, they were filtered through dyes.

Luckily the plates were the same as the ones used for black-and-white photography, so no special equipment was required. Thanks to this process, these startling images suddenly bring 1913 to life.

These photos were taken by English engineer and photographer Mervyn O’Gorman in 1913. They depict his teenage daughter Christina.

These beach images were taken at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, England. They have a misty, painting-like feel due to the long exposure times required by the process.

In these images, she’s wearing the 1913 version of a bathing suit, and it was a good choice because reds were very easily picked up by this development process. They could be reproduced very vibrantly. It also stands out wonderfully against the neutral tones of the landscape.

If you didn’t know better, you might think this was taken today and posted to Instagram with an awesome filter.

On the right side, you can see a black box. That is O’Gorman’s camera case.

While the bathing suit in the previous pictures gives away the era, the next few shots of Christina in a garden have a strikingly modern feel. With her long hair, flowing skirt, and collared shirt, Christina looks like she would be right at home in the 1970s.

You can also see how O’Gorman experimented with color and composition here, using the contrast of the reds of the flowers and shirt to stand out against the greens of the garden. In a black-and-white image, these colors would be lost and the composition would appear very different.

(via National Media Museum, My Modern Met, Peta Pixel, Mashable)

If you want to know more about early color photography, the National Media Museum has produced an in-depth essay on the subject, and you can also find many more examples on their site.

As for O’Gorman, he died in 1958 after helping to develop some staples of modern technology. In 1909, he became superintendent of the Royal Balloon Factory, which later became the Royal Aircraft Factory. He also enjoyed the newly invented automobile and published a handbook on the subject. As for Christina, little is known about her life, but she’ll continue to live on through these photographs.