Oldies but Goodies

This morning I took in a few Civil War era photos to repair. All on tin negatives with holes punched in the corner for necklaces. They're in medium shape. The main problem I'll face is getting a picture off of them to restore. I was amazed that the customer knew who they were and delighted that he told me their stories. Being a lover of photographs old and new, it's hard not to show excitement when I get these type of antique photos. I know the old guy thought I was a bit loopy, because I kept looking at them through my magnifying loupe and giving little giggles of glee.

I mentioned this in an email to my friend Jeff, a DJ of oldies and good time rock & rock. He wrote back with "you have a fun job, too." He's right. It is a headache at times, but mostly it is fun to work magic over the photos I have to repair. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I've been doing this for 15 years. I started out doing restorations or retouching directly on photographs and have successfully transferred to a digital restoration system. Something none of the older restoration artist have been able to do.

His comment got me to thinking. His job is at an oldies station, spinning songs that are memories of eras gone by. I work with photos, memories of times and places. We deal in memories; magical or sad...they are still memories waiting for someone to share.