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Heirloom Photos, Rescued, Whether B/W or Otherwise

Mary Bull

New member
Here are images of the two studio portraits of me as a young girl, which Dierk Haasis kindly restored for me and afterward made other changes to, which increased their beauty and artistic value.

I mentioned them in a comment I made in the thread "B&W RGB Digital: a realized Adams dream or a fix-all." in this forum, Photography As Art, and Asher, rightly, thought that they deserve their own separate thread.

I will supply images of the original portraits later. One of them (1943) is in a bank lock box with the other colorised family portraits which I inherited from my mother. The other, I need to scan onto my hard drive, which I'll do as soon as I can.

Mary at 15, 1943

242227444_bada621826.jpg


Mary at 19, 1947

242222757_edc93a1ba5.jpg


Hope you enjoy seeing these.

Mary
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Mary,
I am sure now that many men did stay without voice...

This was the time when color was too expensive for photographers, thus they had to work particularly the light that adds magic to your glance.
But how can we know the colours of your eyes?
The colour photography would have helped us to know, now we have to guess < he said with regrets, though still enjoying the mistery>

A strange thing is the difference between these 2 portraits that have been made 4 years one from the other.
On the first one you smile and certainly look forward. To a fiançé ????
On the second one, you look much more serious, one can bet that the war have been a difficult period for you...

A question of taste? I do prefer the 1943 one, despite the background that doesn't bring a lot, while a pure white background...

Waiting for the next ones you've promised to us!
 

Mary Bull

New member
Thank you for looking at the portraits, Nicolas.

I think--I am sure--that Dierk Haasis improved them very much from the originals. I'll try to get those up within a few days.

Yes, color does give more information. But I do think the b/w captures mood better.

My eyes are blue. (Incidental information.) My hair is brown--although there is now a great deal of gray in it, especially in the front. In my youth, full sun would bring out a coppery look to my hair--I have a number of red-haired relatives, so I think it's in my genetic mix, probably from my Scottish forebears. Well, more incidental info than necessary.

I just thought Dierk's work with the photos was a good illustration of what can be done in b/w. Especially, as you note, the 1943 image. He brought me into focus, I thought, with the feathering at the edges of the image.

Mary
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Mary
despite your "love" for B&W, have you noticed the number of color informations you've written in your above text? Proves a kind of lack of color in the picture.... Send me back in 1943 with my 1DS2 and I'll try to catch your mood with colors. <he pronounced coloUrs for the Scottish branch>
 
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