Automobile on road, France, ca. 1907

" Captured by John B. Trevor (1878–1956) was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and a New York lawyer. Trevor was vacationing in France in June 1907 when, fortunately and coincidentally, Autochrome plates first became commercially available.

The Autochrome process in a nutshell: Autochromes were invented by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Autochrome plates were first patented in 1903, presented to the Academy of Science in 1904, and mass produced in Lyons, beginning in 1907. Each Autochrome is a unique color positive produced with millions of microscopic potato starch grains dyed orange-red, green, and violet-blue adhered to a varnished glass plate and coated with a photo-sensitive emulsion. The plates were relatively easy to use and the average exposure time was one second. The pointillistic potato particles are pitch-perfect and appealingly pleasant as pixels…"

Source: http://fansinaflashbulb.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/amateur-lumiere-autochromes-by-john-b-trevor/