Red Pepper Flakes

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Elvera (no date) - Repair

Elvera (unmarked photo).

This photo has no date, though I can estimate that it is from the mid-to late-1920s (from comparisons to other, dated photos). Below, I've included a before & after -- trying to repair the photo (from a tear & water spots).

Before (above) and after (below).

Elvera (1926)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Elvera (in High School)

Elvera, High School Portrait.

The original of this print (below) used to sit on grandpa's desk. The signature reads "Sincerely Elvera J" (they were high school sweethearts) and includes a small drawing of the profile of a woman's face (in the lower right hand corner). Below the first signature is written "now Johson ****** 1925."

Willow's Anger Management Issues

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Relay for Life (fundraiser)

Once again, this year in April I plan to walk in the Relay for Life event (organized by the American Cancer Society). Last year I walked at Fordham University and my Global Outreach team raised quite a bit of money. Every year college students, especially those who have lost family members to cancer, work hard to organize this event. This year one of my students has invited me to join her team & raise funds for the American Cancer Society. If you're interested in making a donation, you can check out my page.

Every little bit counts. All donations go directly to the American Cancer Society and anonymous donations are welcome.

Monday, March 10, 2008

String of Flounder

The photo I scanned in this evening is of my grandfather. In this picture, he reminds me so much of my father, whose smile takes over his whole face in the same way. There's no date on this shot, and I'm not sure where the photo was taken, but I'm guessing the sound in NY or Maine where they went fishing and lobstering in the summers. Is lobstering a word?

**Addendum: The photo was taken on Dwyer's Island (which is attached to Vinal Haven), Maine, where the family regularly vacationed. The house in the background belonged to the Swears.' And the fish are flounder. Estimated date: Early 1950s (1950-1956).

1. Original Scan:

2. *Scanned in with Color Restoration:

3. Scanned in with Color Restoration & converted to black & white in PhotoShop:

*I'm partial to the second version, because it preserves some of the 'old photo' look.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Family Photos

Leroy and Elvera

Photo taken by Everett Studies Inc., White Plains, NY.

Leroy's Retirement Party, 1971.

As a kid growing up in Missouri, we were able to visit my father's side of the family (in New York) maybe once a year. Its tough to drive a station wagon from St. Louis to Rye, NY. And flights were expensive when I was young. While I didn't know this side of my family very well, I have great memories from those visits with my grandpa, my aunt Sandy, and my cousins Jody & Roy. My grandma passed away when I was very young, and grandpa died while I was in high school, but the memory I have of grandpa squeezing me & spinning me around the living room of their home in Rye is crystal clear. More recently, I've been able to do some catching up (and visiting) with this side of my family. My dad's sister, Sandy, moved to Rhode Island from New York, just after Chris & I moved, and she has been so kind and generous to both of us. Its great to have family in such close proximity.

All of this is to explain the new side-project that I'm about to start. Sandy has a huge bin of family photos that she's beginning to sort through. As she sorts through them, she's lending the photos to me, so that I can convert each into a digital file that will keep these photos preserved beyond their physical life. This also means the photos can be more easily shared and copied. I am very excited to start this project over the next few weeks. I'm going to try to limit myself to only working on one or two photos a day (so that I get my work done!). Once I get them all scanned & touched up in PhotoShop, I'll put them into album-form so that anyone in the family can order prints or a copy of the album (maybe through KodakGallery, but I'm partial to using Blurb). (low-res, full photo scan below)

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Park View

View of the Park from our front steps.

Taken with the Hasselblad. Winter, 12/08.

Lovely: Milk Bottles

Design*Sponge posted these the other day -- gorgeous milk bottles etched and hand-inked, by Julia Rothman (the student of the month, at the Reform School).