I received an enquiry from Debbie Summers of Acorn Framing in Bognor Regis asking if I could restore a very poor computer print photograph of a soldier she has been asked to frame with the soldier’s medals as a tribute for their family history.
Here is the before and after
Debbie then suggested that her customer added a nameplate with the details and also a genuine cap badge to go into the frame too. This was agreed and Debbie supplied these.
Here is the finished article
I had some family and household expenses recently and thought them worth sharing as it illustrates what great everlasting value a photobook is in comparison.
Illustration of the great value of photobook
Here are a couple of examples of photographs we altered recently to make special photographs even more special.
The photo below was taken in a ski resort but with a fence as a background, I added the ski resort.
Below are the two original photographs, with favourite photos both with portaloos in the background!
So I took the best portrait of each person and put them together on a background of the favourite walk they used to take together.
A lovely reminder of good times.
I recently restored and manipulated an image of Cookie the Pekingese at Crufts so that he could continue to have a presence.
Here’s the original photograph and the finished version
Here’s owner Pauline’s story:
Back in January of this year, the day I feared most came along and I had to say goodbye to Cookie after the most amazing 14 years. Although small in actual size, his presence was huge and the kitchen, despite having other Pekingese around, felt so empty. I wanted a picture of my boy in his prime, here he is in the show ring at Crufts in 2009 where he was awarded a 2nd place in a very strong class.
The original photograph had to be cropped a great deal and did not have the resolution I needed for the splash-back project, but with Richard’s magic, he got us there.
Now Cookie (or Corges Mr Cocky – his KC Show name) is back in the kitchen, with the vantage point he always wanted, he can see what is cooking!!
A photo tells a 1000 words….
A much faded photo in an old album of photographs of a child born in April 1918 shows that little girl, Hylda, clutching a much loved toy monkey
called Jacko.
Hylda gazed at the photo and recalled that as a small child she listened to the minister of her church in Kingkerswell urging all the children to give a treasured toy as a present to children who would otherwise not receive a Christmas toy. Full of good intentions Hylda gave Jacko away.
Her feelings of good will and self sacrifice lasted a day after which she spent many hours in tears for the loss of her beloved Jacko! Imagine her delight when the beautifully restored photo of Hylda and Jacko came as a special birthday card celebrating her 100th birthday…
Hylda enjoyed wonderful celebrations with her family, and friends and the story of Jacko was once again shared! The photo and the many others now restored remain as memories for
both Hylda and her family
I don’t know about you, but I love this time of year. Longer days, sunny mornings, colour reappearing in the garden. And then there is the spring cleaning of course…
You’d be surprised (or perhaps not) at how often this leads to new conversations around old photos; a box recovered from the back of a dusty cupboard or the damp corner of a loft often leads to the rediscovery of old pictures and memories. With spring being all about new starts and rejuvenation, what better time to breathe new life into something so valuable?
This is why I’ve created a new brochure to share with you. It’s a light read – with photographs designed to show you not only how your pictures can be saved; but what we can do to enhance them or turn them into new forms of enjoyment, such as our new seamless lay-flat Photobooks or large sized canvasses.
Click here to look at, or download the new brochure
I’d love to hear what you think of the brochure and invite you to get in touch if you need help with saving your precious photographs. The brochure covers a lot but not all of what we can do, so feel free to give me a call anytime even if it is simply for some advice.
Here’s to spring (and not so much cleaning)
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.
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:
