photo restoration ~ from the ashes

From my photo restoration blog.....

One of the first things most people think/talk about if they've experienced a fire, flood or natural disaster is the loss of all their photos (assuming their loved ones are safe and well). Ask anyone what they'd grab if their house was on fire (and they knew all their loved ones were safe) - probably 99% would say they'd grab photos.

Disaster strikes suddenly and quickly so there usually isn't time to grab anything but yourself. But, it IS possible to rescue, recover and restore photos afterwards.

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images of my past

As a kid I spent hours rifling through my mothers dresser drawers. Like a magpie I examined (and coveted) the shiny bits in each drawer. Imagining myself to be the richest, most beautiful girl in the world I tried on each piece of jewelry thinking it had to be worth millions. It wasn't until many years later that I learned the diamonds were just paste and the gold was just tarnished silver plate. But I still dream about being that little magpie and, to this day, am attracted to small, shiny, bright, intriguing things.

Last week I decided to look for and collect the gems (not including the people gems) in my life. Here are some of the things I found (and put a number of them together in a collage):

• shells and stones from my daughter's trip to Costa Rica
• my old doll collection
• beach glass
• old black and white photos that I took and processed years ago while studying photography and communications at school
• my paintbrushes
• fridge magnet collection
• tiny old sewing machine
• tiny lead figures
• wooden spool of thread
• old tea cups
• textures
• paintings from my kids
• old leather-bound books
• a picture of my great great Aunt Hannah
• my coloured pencils
• a wooden giraffe
• baby pictures
• a painting my gf painted

I intend to collect many more...