The Past – Restaurated
Memories fade with age, as do printed photographs. Unlike memories, photographs can also be damaged by water, fire, smoke, exposure to sunlight, spilled coffee. Psychologists believe that photographs are important in children’s lives to help them form a meaning of self, and to identify their place in their social world. Recent research has shown that photographs trigger memories in people suffering from brain damage, dementia or Alzheimer’s. Historians love photographs, for obvious reasons. The digital age is a different matter entirely, but I can’t stand to see physical prints be in bad shape. So I give them some TLC, if I can.
Part of Our World
This post is totally unrelated to photography, but totally related to az pictured’s daily fairings during school holidays, which just finished for us. You see, my young one is a great singer. Choir boy, soloist, rock-star in the shower. And he has this tendency to burst into song ….. constantly and always and everywhere. Sometimes […]
MorePink Me
Early paper and ink quality wasn’t all that great and, unfortunately, when you’re looking at your old colour photographs from long(er) ago you’ll notice they’ve mostly turned a weird mush of yellows or pinks. They are likely otherwise undamaged, but the discolouration is usually not very pretty. Like in this photo from my collection from […]
MoreThe Status Quo
A class photo. All girls around the age of 8-10 years old, dressed for their Holy Communion. Very serious faces, they probably would have gotten into trouble for smiling, let alone laughing out loud, on what would have been an important religious ceremony in their family and community. And you just didn’t smile in photos […]
MoreSize Matters
At first you wouldn’t know how tiny it is. Only the comparison to my camera lens cap reveals it. Why did they make photos so small in the olden days. A logic explanation would be: small paper, less cost for paper, less cost for development, less time …. I tried to find out the facts […]
MoreThe Texta Devil
This example shows that photos don’t necessarily have to be really, really old to have something terrible happen to them. The original photo is from the mid 1970s and it had some creative artwork added to it with a blue texta. When Mum discovered the culprit in the act she tried to wipe the texta […]
MoreBeneath the Surface
Sometimes, looking at a photo straight on, will not reveal any damage, as you can see with this image. Looks fine, doesn’t it? Not so when you start tilting it slowly in the reflection of light. Suddenly we had to discover severe scratches, mainly on the face. It is impossible to determine how they have […]
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