Category: Moderate Restoration (Page 2 of 2)

52 Ancestors, No. 2: Samuel Harmon Anflick, Big Band Violinist

January 12, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I took an interest in my maternal grandfather’s family early on for three reasons: First, he died in in 1986, when I was five years old, so my memories of him are barely there. I could nary remember what he looked like before my mother showed my some pictures for my nascent genealogy project. Researching him and his family is a way to make up for lost time. Second, he was Jewish, whereas my other three grandparents were Catholic. I was raised Catholic, myself, so researching his family has been like adopting a new culture. Perhaps most of all, however, the name fascinates me. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 1: Russell Hawkins

January 6, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I’m going to try out the 52 Ancestor Challenge, of which I first caught wind from my inspirations at NoStoryTooSmall.com. I’d like to attempt a restoration for each entry. I may not actually have that many damaged photos of ancestors to restore, and I won’t wreck photos just to fix ’em, so many entries may just have cool stories. It should be fun either way. Let’s get started.

I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year then with the rags-to-riches story of Russell Hawkins, who was my first cousin, four times removed. Specifically, he was the nephew of my paternal grandmother’s great-grandfather. Continue reading

Moderate Restoration: Creases, Cracking, and Tape

November 26, 2013 / tim

This is a picture of the client’s mother and uncles in Virginia in 1942. The original was small, only about 3¾ inches tall. Don’t let that deceive you. It was more work as my previous moderate restoration because I had to clean a lot those little cracks out of intricate places, like the care and the baby’s white outfit.

Moderate Restoration: Cracked Ceramic

November 8, 2013 / tim

The cracked ceramic is a much more straightforward restoration that the weathered ceramic. As before, the original ceramic photograph was presumably attached to the gravestone of this gentleman upon his death in 1927.I took a close-up photo of the image with a handheld digital camera.The restoration clocked in at about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Moderate Restoration: Many minor blemishes

February 24, 2012 / tim

These repairs were not very painstaking, but the sheer number of them made for a time-consuming request. The most difficult part of this request, of all things, was restoring the footstool at lower left. Removing a crease across the woman’s waist and blending out the water damage also required additional care. I also added some contrast.

Moderate Restoration: Tearing around details

February 24, 2012 / tim

This request is on the lighter side of moderate restorations. It required the corrections of two punctures, a tear, and a pair of creases. The tear around the brim of the hat and ear required the restoration of some fine details, as did the tear around the girl’s sleeve and coattail at bottom right. Perfecting the shadow behind the girl also required extra care.