I knew they existed, but didn't know the condition they were in or the extent of the collection. So about a year ago I asked my grandparents to pull out their old photographs from when they lived in England. As they dragged out a large, dusty cardboard box from their closet, I stood behind them with the same anticipation a child has on Christmas. My heart sank a little when I saw the box's state because I knew it would be a hint to the condition of the photographs inside.
Although unfortunate, as I rummaged through the box, the poor condition of the photos added to the feeling that I was uncovering something rare and really special. Every picture revealed people and places that, although foreign to me, seemed oddly familiar. Every photograph offered a glimpse into my family's past. Occasionally, I would be lucky enough to find a date, name, and/or location on the back of a picture that gave me a little more insight to the context of the photograph. They ranged from late 1800s photographs of unknown family members, to my dad's baby pictures. The people in the photographs are all connected to each other and to my family so I couldn't bear the thought of the images being forgotten, lost, or destroyed.
As I sat on my grandparents' bed with hundreds of photographs surrounding me, I knew what I had to do. After begging my grandparents to entrust me with their photos, I brought them back to Atlanta, scanned them, and returned them back to their rightful owners. Now I face the daunting task of retouching about 300 old, dusty, wrinkled, and torn pictures. I'm not kidding myself...I know it will take years for me to complete, but I know it will be worth in in the end! I think that if I commit to posting the before and after photographs on my blog, I will stick to it and slowly work my way through the files. So with that, here is my first "Old Made New" post of my great-great-grandfather and his dog in an English pub. I think it's one of my favorite photographs...ever.
