No shortage of images to work on here.
<http://www.operationphotorescue.org/>
I'm not sure who pointed this organization out to me but it could have
been someone on this list a month or two ago. I signed up and got my
first image to work on but had to return it unfinished. They want the
work done within about a week but I ended up having to travel
unexpectedly before I could finish. That was followed almost
immediately by the planned but long trip to the UK. I had thought I had
a week available to do the work but it didn't pan out.
I was also advised (in no uncertain terms) that the job is restoring
photographs to original condition, not improving photographs. The image
I had chosen to work on was a husband/wife portrait from the late 1800s
taken by a then prominent New York City firm (Underwood & Underwood)
which did business around the country. I think it must have been the
Olan Mills of its day. It had also been "stamped" with the company's
name as a "proof". But the "stamp" was actually a pin punch which put
the lettering in as a series of small holes (which did not photograph
well). The stamping had been done somewhat haphazardly such that part
of the company name had flowed off the left side of the print. I had to
do some internet research to figure out what it was supposed to be.
As a former portrait photographer I was appalled at the quality of the
work which appeared to have been shot in the couple's house. A
background drape had been hung from somewhere on the wall and then over
the tops of the two chairs they were sitting in. But the drape was so
haphazardly hung that part of it was flopped over and obscuring the
woman's right shoulder. On her husband's side, it wasn't wide enough to
cover part of his chair. The inadequate width had also left an ugly
table and vase prominently visible beside and behind him. The drape was
so poorly hung that its shortcomings became the main visual focus of the
photo.
The main restoration (only) needs were water damage but there were also
rusty looking stains and sun damage which faded about 1/3 of the image
where it had been exposed and the other 2/3 covered.
I thought I could be a really good samaritan and fix not only the
obvious damage but also turn it into a better looking portrait by fixing
the problems with the haphazardly hung backdrop and eliminating the ugly
proof stamp. That notion was soundly rejected. Even presenting the
family with two images with one being restoration only was rejected.
I'll eventually go back and get another image to work on but the
rejection of presenting the family with two images left me a bit cold
and unhappy.
Chuck Norcutt
On 7/19/2011 8:11 PM, Moose wrote:
> On 7/19/2011 4:21 PM, Paul Laughlin wrote:
>> . . . And I, too, spend most of my time on the computer fooling
>> around with images. Restoration when I can get images to work on.
>> Getting better at that all the time. LOL
>
> Do you have Ctein's book? I got a copy, but probably won't read it
> until I need it. He recently did a couple of live web demonstrations,
> which are also available 'on tape'. He's supposed to be quite the
> expert.
>
> Moose
--
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