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Archive for family history – Page 2

The Perfect Gift That Your Family and Friends Will Love

 

Do you ever have difficulty thinking of a gift for someone special? A gift they will truly appreciate?

Our bespoke, premium quality photobooks are the perfect gift that your family and friends will love – one that is bound to give lasting pleasure.

A PHOTOBOOK IS AN IDEAL GIFT FOR….

Christmas

Birthday

Wedding Anniversary

Special Occasion

Photographs really are one of the very few things that are both precious and truly irreplaceable. We usually store them away in a cupboard, drawer or the attic and never look at or appreciate them as often as we should.

A collection of your favourite photographs, beautifully presented in one of our high quality lay-flat photobooks makes looking at them a pleasure every time.

As well as considering old family photographs, don’t forget that you probably have thousands of photographs on your mobile phone that may never see the light of day!
Choose the best ones and fully enjoy them in a photobook.

We can help you at every stage of the process, including scanning and collating your photographs, optimising them to reduce fading and correct the colours, putting the photobook together with titles and captions and even sending you an online virtual proof of the book, for you to approve before it’s printed. 

Our new lay-flat VIP photobook offers a truly professional finish. The photographs in it are photographically printed on heavy weight 440gsm photographic lustre paper and then sewn bound for added permanence. The outer cover can also be printed. This is a substantial book that is far superior to many other photobooks you may have seen. 
The seamless lay-flat albums use a unique stitched binding which allows for the continuous flow of images over a spread, with no central image loss.  See further details HERE            

Take the first step now! It’s so easy to proceed in simple steps. 

 To see these steps  CLICK HERE  

This is a testimonial we received as a result of a photobook we produced recently:

“We had the idea of a family history photobook and turned to Photographs Forever for help and advice. Over the last year we have worked with Richard and his daughter Amy to restore and edit around 175 photographs and create an illustrated family history. The photo restoration work was never in doubt but what really struck us this time was the quality of the design and layout of the album, combining very old sepia toned photos with modern, colour digital prints together with a significant amount of explanatory text. One friend described the finished product as “a work of art” and the whole family is mightily impressed. We now have a wonderful photographic record for posterity and are very grateful to Richard and team for making this possible and for the never-ending patience throughout the project – Many thanks Richard”
Graham J.

Increasing Demand for Our High Quality Photobooks and Photograph Framing

Due to the increasing demand I am receiving for photograph restoration, I’d like to keep you informed of some changes I’ve introduced within the company to make sure we can stay as efficient as possible.

My daughter Amy (Haines) has now joined Photographs Forever. She has been helping me part-time over the last 7 years and, having recently finished her degree at university, is now working with me full-time. Amy (Lees) has moved into a new role and Selina (Payandee) is now my Administration Assistant.

Amy Haines

Selina Payandee

Introducing our professional framing service to complement and further enhance your restored photographs has proved to be very popular with my customers. This means we are able to offer a complete service, transforming your damaged and fading photographs into to a high quality framed photograph you will truly enjoy forever. Here is the link to more details and the advantages of our frames.

Our photobooks are also increasing in popularity and another great way to enjoy your favourite photographs by printing them in a book that will not fade or deteriorate. The photobooks we provide are good value and much higher quality and specification than those ordinarily found in the high street. Here is the link to more details of our photobooks with a step by step guide to help you to organise your photographs and make your photobook a reality.

CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE VIDEO OF THE TWO BOOKS COMPARED

Here is a photobook we completed recently which duplicated an existing album that was lovingly put together just after World War 2. The new photobook is virtually twice the size of the original and is now in a form that will literally last forever and can be handed down through generations to preserve precious family history.  

If you would like any more details, information or advice in relation to your photographs or how I can help please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you.

What’s YOUR Most Important, Irreplaceable Possession?

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2020 has been a very unusual year in so many ways for all of us. One factor that has occurred to many of us is the importance of the family and close relationships as we have had time to reflect.

I will be moving to a smaller house soon and, as I have to get rid of quite a lot of ‘stuff’,  it has occurred to me that when I look around the house to decide what’s precious, there really is very little that I couldn’t live without. Except photographs. Photographs are one of the very few things that can’t be replaced and they are therefore possibly our most important and valuable possession.

Because we have all had more time on our hands than usual, photograph collections that have been overlooked for years have finally been finding the light of day and getting them scanned and either optimised or fully restored has enabled these very special photographs to be enjoyed so much more. 

So, if you haven’t checked out your own photograph collection yet, there is no better time than the cold dark winter months. Apart from anything else, it is actually a very enjoyable exercise. So make that diary note to do it. You’ll be glad you did. 

 

 

 

 

Top Quality Framing For Your Restored Photograph

There has been a very big increase in the number of photographs I have received because going through the masses of old family photographs is a job that is so often put off by many people due to lack of time and for these past few months have provided  the time and the environment to tackle the task. It’s always much more fun than people expect. And the rewards are huge.

I am now very excited to be able to offer you a top quality bespoke framing service. This means I can offer custom size prints, mounts and frames to show off your restored photographs in the best way possible so they can receive the attention and admiration they deserve.

The most popular moulding is the solid wood satin black or mahogany with single or double mounts.

Satin Black Frame

Satin Black Frame

 

Mahogany frame

Mahogany frame

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I can also provide multi aperture frames – the one below is 20in x 16in with two landscape format 8in x 6in prints and two portrait format 5in x 7in prints. There are several multi aperture options available and the frames can be any size you choose. Heavier mouldings are available for larger sizes.

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I can even show you what your photograph will look like before you order including all the relevant dimensions. This is particularly useful if you want a specific frame size to fit a specific space in your house.

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A representation of your own photo with dimensions added

A representation of your own photo with dimensions added

Further details are available here

Restoration of Photo of Deteriorating Oil Painting

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My customer John G had a photograph he had taken of an old oil painting of an early member of his family (centre photo above). The photograph he gave me was not very good quality itself and you can see by the close up of the face on the left that the surface of the painting was also very cracked and damaged.
On the right is the same section after I had digitally restored it.

The Impossible Made Possible

Holly asked me to create this photograph for her mum. 

She left this review on Google:

Richard at Photographs Forever blended three photographs together for me of my mum with myself and two sisters, one who sadly passed away when she was a baby before my second sister was born. It’s a photograph that would have been impossible to do but my mum wished she had a photo of us all together and now she does. It made her cry and is the sort of thing that is absolutely priceless and means so much. Richard stayed in touch the whole time and his communication was second to none. Such a professional service and very reasonably priced too. Will definitely be using him again!

The impossible made possible

Badly Faded Certificate Saved!

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My customer Brian C contacted me to restore his Grandfather’s certificate on which the handwritten personal information had badly faded in the frame.  I asked Brian for the story behind his enquiry and he wrote this back to me –  

“The certificate was presented to my Grandfather, an engine driver at Horsham, Sussex when he retired from British Railways in 1964.

It had hung on the wall in his house for many years, in a frame with no mount or seal and in bright sunlight. The effects of this are clear from the pre-restoration pictures.

When he died in 1982, I was given the certificate, which I had properly mounted and framed, however the damage was already done.

I have looked from time to time for somebody to restore it, however those I contacted all said it was too difficult. I saw your website and what you do, the old telegram being the clue, as most of your work is around photographs and I thought I would contact you to see if you could do anything for me. The answer is plain to see – a beautifully restored certificate, which looks like new, and will grace my wall as a nice reminder of my late Grandfather.”

Thought to be Lost – Restored to a Good Result

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John, now long retired, and in the centre picture as a boy, had these three photographs of his brother, himself and his dad on his brother’s new motorbike. He the thought the photographs were beyond repair and was absolutely thrilled that I managed to get the photographs to look this good again. I even turned his dad around so they are all facing the same way to go into the frame!

Three Brothers Together at Last in One Photograph

My customer John G wanted to get his grandfather with his two brothers together in a single photograph with a Scottish background.

Here are the three individual photographs and below the final result

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Here’s the review John left for me on Yell.com

“Please accept my wonderful thanks for the restored colour job you did to the photo of my late grandfather and his two brothers.
You have done a very professional and absolutely stunning job. You are very talented at what you do.” John G

New Photo Albums For Old

I often get asked to reproduce family photograph albums so that various members of the family can share the family history.

I was asked by Moira to recreate an important family photo album so that both she and her sister could have a copy of the book with the historic photographs and handwritten descriptions.

Below is the original and the new lay-flat photobook I created.

Moira said “My sister and I are just glad that we have this marvelous record to share and that you could bring it back to life for us”

 
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Old album and new photobook

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Moira told me

“My father signed up for his national service because the Essex Regiment were going to be posted to India. He had a place a medical school but deferred it to go to India. He loved it there, a complete culture shock from Chingford. The army taught him to drive, allowed him to play hockey and he was upset to leave India having fostered a dog there that he had to leave. My father was a doctor so army life was far from ideal but he appreciated the opportunity he was given and never forgot his time there. He was a keen photographer and you can see the care he took to display each photograph and carefully write an inscription.”

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