Friday, September 07, 2018

Old Photos

Posting has been a bit light here lately, although not completely forgotten. I've been doing some photo for the community recently, photographing some and restoring others, and then there was my somewhat busy birthday last week plus Danica inviting herself over for yet another sleepover. Likely, more about the birthday and perhaps even about the community project later.

But Sue has also had her mind on a family related project lately, so in addition to doing some prose editing for her, I've also done some scanning. And, of course, I can't scan an old photo without at least a little bit of restoration as well. I mean, most old photos have not been carefully preserved and have spots or scratches at the very least.

This one ↓ needed hardly any work, however: a hand tinted photo of her dad before he went off to war. He enlisted in 1942, so I assume that the photo dates from then. I don't know how they colourized these photos in those days. I have done it once using Photoshop -- just because -- and I have no burning desire to do it again.



That photo ↑ had been kept in a frame, and although there had been some warping, it was in good condition otherwise.

The rest, however, had been stuffed into albums or envelopes and weren't in the best of condition. And they were snapshots to begin with, so they needed some TLC from me. But what a treasure to have.

I suspect that both of the next photos ↓ were taken in 1942 or 43. The first looks to be taken while her father was on furlough from Army training, the camp not being too far away from Toronto. Once he was shipped overseas, in 1943 I believe, he was there for the duration, until late 1945. The second photo was taken near the time of their engagement.



The family in the mid fifties, probably 1957: sisters Deborah and Heather in the foreground; mother and Sue in the middle; with Dad and brother, Larry, in the back.

Another picture of Larry which looks to be taken in the same place on the same day. He was going through his rebel Elvis stage.



6 comments:

Marie Smith said...

Priceless family photos! They’re the best!

Mage said...

Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing them. They used oil colors to paint the photos.

Joanne Noragon said...

My mother had baby photos from the whole forties decade "colored". She said it was done by hand, and I assumed that involved a lot of paint brushes.

Peace Thyme said...

I think it is amazing how my father's photos survived at all. What a treasure they are to me. That is why I make a couple of photo books each year so that I can save iPhone photos for my descendants.

P.s. Gotta love that hat!

Vicki Lane said...

These are wonderful pictures of moments in time!

Jenn Jilks said...

I have to burn some of my photos. No one wants them. It's the end of an era!