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Archive for Restoring Your Old Photographs – Page 2

A Heartwarming 60th Wedding Anniversary Story in Photographs

This photograph was taken on 3rd of February 1962, when Colin and Jan were just 21 and 19 years old. As soon as we saw the photo we were instantly struck by how heart-warming it was, their faces a perfect picture of happiness!

Since 1962 Colin and Jan went on to have four children and four grand-children, and it was their grand-daughter Emily who contacted us in January as she hoped to give her grandparents a restored version of their precious photograph for their 60th wedding anniversary.

Jan says  “We got married at the church that was once part of Hanworth Palace owned by Henry VIII. I walked through the door on the arm of my dad and felt part of the history of it all. Hiring the Daimler on the day of our wedding was a luxury I had not known before. The car arrived to take us the short distance to the reception. It was such a happy day I don’t think we noticed the cold February weather.”

Emily tells us that her great-grandfather (Jan’s dad) was the gardener at Hanworth Palace, and when her granddad Colin first visited her Nan, who lived in the grounds, he mistakenly thought he had struck gold, believing Jan’s family owned the estate!

On 3rd February 2022, Emily presented her grandparents with the photograph that we had restored and framed and kindly sent us these photographs of their reaction…

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.

Photographs Forever on Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline

We have just started advertising Photographs Forever on Radio Caroline to increase the awareness of the importance of preserving our memories with photographs.

Like me, I’m sure many people remember the heyday of the pirate radio stations in the mid 60’s and the way they revolutionised popular music by playing and plugging singles all day every day as there was very little pop music on the BBC at the time. BBC were then forced in 1967 to create a new pop music station which became Radio 1.

A month or so ago  the family were holidaying overlooking the Blackwater Estuary in Essex and noticed a stationary red ship which I soon realised was Radio Caroline.  I was intrigued to listen to the station and found I liked much of the music played and decided that if I enjoyed it then maybe so would other people of a similar age (and younger of course).

Radio Caroline is now a 24/7 album station featuring music from across the decades up to and including new music.

Broadcasting on 648 AM, on DAB and around the world online at radiocaroline.co.uk 

 

You can listen to the Photographs Forever advertisement below

 

There is also the Caroline Flashback station which concentrates on playing pop singles from the 60’s and 70’s. Lots of the songs played are ones we remember but not always the same oldies so often played on other oldie stations.

 

 

Click on the links above and take a listen to the Caroline stations.

Let me know what you think

 

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?

Boris-web

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. 

 

 

 

 

Badly Damaged Photograph Restored

This photograph was in a really bad state as you can see below.

Ann M was very happy with the result. She told me “My Mum’s picture has pride of place on the mantelpiece and is a great talking point for everyone who comes in!  My brother and sisters back in Ireland have been astounded and delighted with the copies I sent them. It has given us all so much happiness.”

 AM_01R1

Business As Usual

 

Business as Usual

I am operating normally during these difficult times. I work from home on the edge of the Ashdown Forest in Sussex.

Royal Mail are continuing to operate as normal so work coming to me and going out by post is not affected.

I am restricting face to face customer meetings but have arrangements for my customers to deliver their photographs and collect their completed orders. If you are working from home and with the restrictions ongoing out it could just be a great time to concentrate on going through your old photographs and those on your phone/computer and start to make the most of them.

If you need any advise or help just give me a call.

In the meantime stay safe.

Combine Two Separate Photographs Into One

I was provided with two poor quality scans of cut-out damaged photographs that were not to scale with each other and asked to combine them and add a fitting background.

Here’s the result.

PA_01R1

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

Wonderful Story Behind The Photograph

Carol send me the creased old photo to restore. Her romantic story is below.

CF_01R1web1
‘So the original photo was taken in London in 1998 in a pub called the Bram Stoker Tavern. Adam worked there, he was on a work visa from Australia. At the time he was 20 and I was 21.
I was a nanny that lived around the corner. One evening I walked into that pub and was greeted by his cute Aussie accent declaring that I was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.
We fell madly in love! Both of us had never been in love before. After a year I decided I hated living in London and wanted to come home back to my country life in Oxfordshire. Adam didn’t want that and unfortunately we split up. Both of us being stubborn.
Fast forward 20 years, he had been looking for me for years on Facebook but I had my married name still even though I was divorced but I found him! I never stopped thinking about him. He told me that he had never stopped loving me and he wished he had moved to Oxfordshire with me all those years ago.
After a few months of online dating he gave up his job and moved to England. We are planning to get married and have a couple of children. Life is really good. ‘