This fantastic photograph of a Victor V Bomber refueling English Electric Lightnings over the Niagara Falls is one that I had the pleasure to restore and colourise recently. I found the correct colouring of all the aircraft from technical drawings I found on Google Images.
Free Advice Call 01825 740986
Archive for NEWS – Page 2
I received this photograph as four photographs stuck together and folded as that was the best way with the technology of the time. When it was restored I printed a 40inch wide print.
Here’s the story….
“The Cuillins is a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye, we spent many happy family holidays on Skye when I was a child and my Dad, George Smith who was a very talented amateur photographer, spent years perfecting his panorama of “the Cuillins” as we used to call them, he unfortunately passed away in 2015 and we recently went through some of the many images he had painstakingly crafted over the years, including this one which was in fairly bad condition having been folded up & stored in a box in a damp sitting room in a French Farmhouse for the last 10 years; I love this image as it brings back so many wonderful memories of my Dad and the fun we used to have on Skye in the shadow of the Cuillin, I am so grateful to Richard for the amazing restoration and for enabling such a precious memory to be recovered and displayed once again in its full glory.”
My customer Karen E tells the story of this (now restored) photograph
“This photograph was taken on a day when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Poplar during the Blitz. My father as a boy is standing in the right upper window with his mum on his right and his best friend beside him.
My father remained in Poplar throughout the war with his father who was a stevedore in the docks and his mother who was a seamstress. Their house suffered damage in the war when an incendiary device came through the roof and landed on his parent’s bed, luckily it did not ignite and they managed to wrap it in the bedding and throw it out of the window!”
Here’s the original photograph I received:
I recently received this photograph which had been kept in a photo frame and the entire top surface of the photo had come away from its paper backing and so the image consisted of a large number of very frail flakes that would have blown away in the slightest draught!
It was an important photo and so I was able to digitally painstakingly put it back together and with the help of two other photographs from the same customer I as able to use the persons eyes and add a complete dog!
Here’s the finished photo:
We are increasingly asked to provide our new lay-flat photobooks by people who have a collection of photographs that they want to both preserve and also share with others. Here is the feedback we received from Harry W when he received his photobook.
“I had been waiting for a long time to get my photographs of a wonderful trip to the Middle East put into a photobook but, as there were some 100 photographs, I really had no idea how best to deal with it.
I then had some photographs restored by Richard and they were so impressive that I asked him if he could make the book for me. He went to as great deal of trouble to send me miniature sheets of the photographs so that I could choose what to use and what to leave out, what I wanted to print as large copies and those that could be best fitted in as smaller ones.
When I received the final book, I was delighted and described the whole exercise as a masterpiece. It will be a family heirloom and a joy to continue to look at.”
Photographs are by far the best way you have to remember your own special times and your family history. Have you got a collection of really special photographs that stay tucked away and that you never look at?
Here’s a perfect way for you to easily change that. Let me put together for you your own personalised lay-flat photo book album and create for you a unique keepsake that you will treasure forever!
I can help you at every stage of the process, including scanning your photographs, optimising them to reduce fading and correct the colours, putting the photo book together with titles and captions if required and even sending you an online virtual proof of the book, for you to approve before it’s printed.
Our new lay-flat premium photo book offers a truly professional finish. The photo books are digitally printed on heavy weight 216gsm premium silk paper and then sewn bound for added permanence. The outer cover can also be printed and then gloss laminated for protection. This is a substantial book that far superior to many other photobooks you may have seen.
The lay-flat albums use a unique hinge which allows for the continuous flow of images over a spread, with almost no central image loss.
Also available is a black tissue-lined presentation box, ideal if the photo book is being given as a gift.
You will then have a wonderful photographic record of all your memories to enjoy and share with others as well as something that will last forever.
So take the first step now! Look out those precious photographs and select the ones that will go in your photo book and get in touch with me by phone or email if you have any queries or anything you’d like to discuss in more detail.
Over recent months I have been restoring photographs for my customer Irene Boocock. It soon became clear that Irene was working on her memoir for her family and she got in touch when she had finished it by the Christmas deadline to let me have the reactions from the family and herself when it was completed.
Here’s what she sent me:
I have always thought of writing about my early life as a legacy for my children. I regret not asking my mother more questions about her childhood and that I didn’t find out more about the short time my parents had together before he was lost at sea while serving on the Arctic Convoys. Like others considering writing about their life, there were always reasons for me to put this off. However, I finally began preparing notes and tentatively made a start on the first draft. After gathering lots of photographs together to scan onto my writing, I realised I would need help as many were damaged and faded. This is where Richard came into the project, employing his expertise and restoring treasured photographs beautifully. The first one he restored was a very early photograph of myself which had suffered much damage over the years having been folded in half, sellotaped together and with several tears and scratches. I couldn’t believe the transformation Richard achieved and over the next months, there followed more restorations, each one securing a place in the memoir. A very special one was the photograph he created, from two separate images, of my parents as we had never seen one of them together.
I am so pleased with my completed book, happy in the knowledge that my early life is preserved for my children and grandchildren and in the process, I have paid tribute to my parents. There is no doubt that the restored photographs – courtesy of Richard’s dedication and undoubted expertise – add so much to the story of my early life. To anyone thinking about writing a memoir, I would encourage you to make a start as the rewards are so worth the time and effort. At Christmas I gave out copies of my memoir to my family and the response was truly overwhelming. I would also wholeheartedly recommend asking Richard to restore your faded/damaged photographs to enhance and safeguard those frozen precious moments from your past. Good Luck!
This was very gratifying for me to receive and I can only encourage everyone to make the time and take the effort to ask questions of relatives about family history so the stories are not lost forever. I hear this so often “If only I’d asked my parents about their early life and who is in all these old photographs” is something I hear a lot and have actually said myself.
My daughter Amy has joined me at Photographs Forever so that we can maintain the highest standard photograph restoration service. With increasing levels of repeat business and the increasing popularity of our photograph restoration has made it necessary to have additional help to keep the standards of service as high as they have been. Amy’s keen interest in photography and media is also of great benefit moving forwards.
I have always made a point of being very responsive to all phone calls and emails and, with increasing levels of communication, Amy’s help will be very valuable to keep up these high standards.
Merry Christmas to everyone – before and after! Here’s looking forward to 2017 being a great year.
I recently received an order from Iain Anderson from Renfrewshire as he wanted me to produce a montage on canvas of some his photographs taken when he was in various dramatic stage roles.
During our conversations I found that Iain has his own radio show on BBC Scotland and he plays some really great music, much of which you may not have heard before and is well worth hearing, which you can hear again on the BBC iPlayer.
Click on his photograph below for the link to listen
Iain Anderson – BBC Radio Scotland