Our Sepia Saturday prompt this week features a very elegant and, I would imagine, an equally elegant baby. The pram featured in my photograph is not quite as elegant, but the baby is - I have to say that because it is none other than the Good Lady Wife. That is Isobel and, in the background, her mother Edith. The picture was taken just down the road from where we live now, indeed, our local pub, is just visible near the top of the road.
I had a few old family photographs featuring prams to choose from, but I decided on this one in order to give it a good Spring clean. I was able to get rid of most of the stains, creases and blotches with a little help from Photoshop: although the process can be a little time-consuming, there is something rather therapeutic about it. Once you remove all the imperfections you are left with a memory, and that is what Sepia Saturday is all about.
Wheel your pram over to the Sepia Saturday Blog in order to see all the other contributors to Sepia Saturday 134.
Great lookin kid!
ReplyDeleteI like the old photos that you find and give some background on them.
What a wonderful photo and really fun prompt!
ReplyDeleteWhat a joy to behold. Great job cleaning up the photo too.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that those rocks/stones in the foreground, have been painted white (tell-tale drips of paint on the viewer's side). Is this why the GLW appears to be so well lit?
ReplyDeleteWe Should Perhaps Circle Our Prams In The Same Fashion As The Early Pioneers in The Wild West Once Did?
ReplyDeleteI’m intrigued by the puschair handle; it seem enormous, but it’s probably the perspective, and I couldn’t see how one would hold on to it. Viewing the original I see you had to sacrifice part of the handle whilst cleaning up the pic. It’s a photo well worth preserving, not least because of Isobel’s lovley bonnet (which rival’s mine I think!). I was also struck how alike the Isobel we have now, is to her mother. That could be her standing there.
ReplyDeleteOld photos are great for helping one remember. Love the old pram.
ReplyDeleteI'd say it took a while! You resurrected the photo from the dead.
ReplyDeleteNice clean up job on all those cracks. I have one photo this week that I could have taken more time with and gotten rid of the reddish stain but I didn't. It must be sort of nice to live down the street from where your wife grew up.
ReplyDeleteI attended a little webinar last week in which the presenter demonstrated restoring photos with Photoshop. I never thought I needed that, but now it's on my Christmas list. I'm glad to see your before and after.
ReplyDeleteNice job cleaning up the photo....you are getting distracted from cleaning up the corridor!
ReplyDeleteAlan, how very beautiful, baby Isobel looks so elegant in her frilly bonnet, I remember those bonnets.
ReplyDeleteOh I can see shades of your lovely wife in her mother's face...exceptional pic Alan...
ReplyDeleteWonderful. I enjoy the process of "cleaning" an old photo too. Fixing the faded contrast with a magical click of the mouse button is just like getting a chiropractic adjustment. Ahhhh... so much better now.
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job fixing that photo. I wonder how the original ended up in such bad shape.
ReplyDeleteI love to see your old family photos and the perspective you give on them - pointing out landmarks that may still exist today.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your restoration.
Dee at Shakin' the Family Tree
Love the telegraph posts in the background. They remind me of my grandmother's house, strangely enough in the aptly named, Telegraph Road.
ReplyDeleteThis is a darling picture! It is one of those "a picture is worth a thousand words" photo. Isobel looks quite delighted to be out and about.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
Good fix, Alan. The first photo I put up on Sepia Saturday was of my mother-in-law, but my wife is not keen of appearing on the web and we have no pram photos of her either.
ReplyDeleteGreat job with Photoshop! The photo looks wonderful. I like how you posted the before and after shots. Isn't Photoshop amazing? I've used it myself to help restore some old photos too.
ReplyDeleteI am often ambivalent about Photoshopping old photos to remove the blemishes that the intervening ears have left, since one is often left with a rather sterile image. However, you've done a great job on this one - apart from the missing section of pram handle - and I'm most impressed that so much character has remained, a testament to the time you've spent on it.
ReplyDeleteYou hint, too, at the memories evoked by spending time examining the minutiae of old family photos, being the essence of Sepia Saturday. I often feel that I'm at a window, gazing out at a scene from the past, and if I pay enough attention I'll be able to see beyond the borders of the shot, both in space and time. That, after all, is what the photos were taken for in the first place, weren't they?
Thanks to being a late child of ancient parents who were late children of ancient parents, I have several sepia-toned photograph albums for your therapy sessions. I've scanned one or two of the teeny little photos (one inch high, some of them) and have been astonished to find them clear and full of detail I didn't know about.
ReplyDeleteGood job. That must have taken a long time but it is such a precious photo so well worth it.
ReplyDeleteCould I suggest using the clone tool to put the handle back in as I thought the handle was broken until I saw the before shot.
Congratulations on your restoration job - and the GLW has cute little feet :-) Jo
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with the photoshop work on the photo. It's well worth the time and effort to preserve such a special picture.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo and restored too! It does take time but the effort is worth it! :)
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