Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Touch Up

As you may recall, it's been photo central 'round these here parts. All winter, I've been pasting 125 years of photographs into albums. That's a lot of HGTV listening, photo cornering and observing my posterior spill over its banks while sitting and piecing together genealogies and chronology.

I can sit no longer, having created five huge albums of family history. There is still a tonnage of pictures from 1980 onward. (Note to my darling children: they will be a box in the basement with your names and the word "sorry" on it. Despite what you may think, I cannot do everything. )

With family photographs on the brain, I happened to notice that one of me and my mother had deteriorated in spectacular fashion. Dissolving, creased, and torn, it looked even older than I am  it is:


(And I've been careful with the photographs from my side of the family.)

I learned from a friend that Colbert Custom Framing in Naperville restores old photos very reasonably. They will do it for you or you can steer your own Photoshop ship right in their store.

Needless to say, Christy worked her magic on this moment from 1959 in front of the apartment in New York where I grew up. Thanks to her mad skills, Mom and I now look like this:
I think we all need more Photoshop in our lives, don't you?

In true HGTV fashion, here's the before and after:


There just aren't that many pictures of me with my mother, because she was almost always the one behind the Brownie box camera. On this February day, my godmother, Betsy, took the picture, according to the careful handwriting on the back.

I think we turned out quite well.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn't perked to promote Colbert's. I'm just tickled to find a place close to home that does such smart work so reasonably. Rah.)

Each week, Naperville Now participates in Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. See what others have to say about the letter T here.


25 comments:

Irene said...

That's a nicely done job on that photo. I think you and I are the same age. I do not have as many old photos, they being spread out over the family. The ones I have are in fairly good shape and mostly in albums. I looked at those of my mother the other day and tried to get a grip on her as a young woman. She is a mystery to me.

noexcuses said...

I gotta get going on my kids's albums! Reading this gives me inspiration! Thanks for sharing. I love the photo...just like the ones when I was that age!

Stacia said...

What a wonderful photo! And I love the note to your kids. I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving that same note for mine down the road!

Anonymous said...

That is a beautiful picture! I love collecting family photos. They really did an excellent job of restoring it.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful touch up on beautiful photos ~ perfect for T ~ ^_^

Pam Beers. said...

I love old photos. What's really fun for me is the clothing and hair styles. Thanks for sharing happy family memories.

Susan said...

What a job you picked for yourself, but good for you. All the photo lovers and family genealogists are cheering you on.

Annesphamily said...

What a terrific photo! When I was a newlywed by husband had a baby picture of himself that was tattered and torn beyond repair. Until I found a photographer who put that photo back together for me! It is a darling photo that I will always cherish.
You remind me of Sue at CollecTinTexas. She has tirelessly worked on her family genealogy and it was interesting to watch her put it all together and share the wonderful stories with everyone.
Terrific post! Thanks for sharing!

Sharon said...

Bravo!

Debra at HOMESPUN: http://www.thehomespun.com said...

Love the photo. I am glad that you found someone that could restore it so nicely! :)

Lola said...

Such an interesting *T* post! I've been just looking at some old family photos that would be greatly improved with touching up. Many thanks for the heads up!

Have a great weekend,

Visiting from Alphabe-Thursday!

Have a great Alphabe-Thursday and weekend too, Have a great weekend too!

Visiting from Alphabe-Thursday!

Lola said...

Me again!

Apologies! A slip of the mouse! My computer's got a mind of its own in repeating things!!

BFL said...

Love the photo. Love the post. I continue to be amazed at the cleverness of your Alphabet entries.

Naperville Now said...

BFL -- that's thanks to you, my first editor. Lessons shared and learned.

Eden House News and views said...

I find it amazing that our old pictures can be restored to better than new.

Unknown said...

What a difference! It makes so much sense to restore them.

Lmkazmierczak said...

Ain't technology grand? Love your results (Now if you could just do away with that spam filter when I comment♫♪)

Esther Joy said...

Your comment to your children about not being able to do it all made me laugh! How true! Too little time, too much to do!

Cindy @ Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home said...

Getting my pictures in order is on my to do list...at the very bottom. :)
Sweet picture of you and your mom, so glad they are able to restore things so well these days!
Blessings,
Cindy

Splendid Little Stars said...

I love old photos! Lucky you to have so many to fill all those albums! (You may not feel so lucky after all that work, but what a blessing for future generations.) I hope your children have fun putting all their old photos in albums!
The restoration work is remarkable!

Laurie said...

Yes! Everyone needs photoshop! My family photo project of about 100 years of photos took me A YEAR to do! But it was so worth it!

Kathy and Freddy said...

Again, you are my hero!
I had Colberts restore and print an old photo for me last December-great job!

Beth said...

What a great idea-spending the grey days of winter tackling such a huge project!

EG CameraGirl said...

I can see why you're happy with their work!

Jenny said...

This is a Tremendous Touch up...

The difference is astonishing...

Thank you for sharing such a Thoughtful post for The letter T...

Terrific job!

A+