I'm just finishing up a project that has taken more hours than I want to count. I am helping a family digitize their family photos with some which go back to the early 1900's. Some of the family members are looking at the pictures and trying to identify and label the people. Time is of the essence because there are only 1 or 2 people surviving who might be able to identify some of the older pictures. Some pictures were labeled with names, dates and locations; but many were only labeled with the date or not labeled at all. I am hoping that we can identify the people in the pictures so we can recreate the portions of their life captured on film.

This project has made me think about my own family pictures and the importance of continuing to document my family history. Over the weekend, we celebrated our son's birthday and I made sure I got a picture of him with his grandparents. I'm trying to make sure I do that with each of the kids now because I don't know how many more opportunities I will have to take those family pictures. As I was going through old pictures with my mom, I found a couple of 4 generation pictures from when I was a child. I plan on restoring them and then printing them and hanging them in my home. What a treasure it is to be able to capture those precious memories. We need to take advantage of those chances when we can.Don't let the moments pass you by.

Restored Christmas Picture

I love Christmas, it's my favorite time of year. I love the music, the decorations, sharing Christmas goodies, and most important sharing goodwill. I love celebrating the birth of my Savior and I'm so grateful for all that He has done for me. So when I was given this Christmas picture, I knew I needed to restore it and help the family preserve their own Christmas memories. For many people, it's the time of year to do family pictures so they can be given as gifts, so here's my gift back to the family. I'm not sure what happened to this before picture, maybe it was stuck in a photo album, but it looked like there were stars all over it.

Here's the finished version. Enjoy your Christmas memories.

New adventure

In life, we never know where our journey is going to take us. If you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would ever start my own business, I would have answered no. But I've learned that hobbies can lead to other ventures. It started with learning more about my family history and seeing pictures of my ancestors.

As a kid, I wasn't interested in hearing the stories but now I regret not taking advantage of the opportunities I had to talk to my grandparents more about their lives. I would have loved to learn more of what made them tick, how they felt about the issues of the day, what was important to them. I can remember spending time with my grandmother, playing games. She taught me so much in her own quiet ways. It hasn't been until recently that I realized the true impact she had on my life. She taught me to try new things, whether it be a new recipe or a new craft, or just something I had never done before. I can remember going to craft shows with her and seeing through her eyes the potential. She was able to look at how something was made and then make it herself, but change it enough to make it her own. I can remember trying new recipes because she saw a recipe in the newspaper that she wanted to try. Green tomato cookies and mayonnaise cake are a couple that I can remember trying. I can't say that I liked them all, and I started to learn pretty quick to ask what was in something before I tried it. But she was so much wiser than I was and she knew if she told me that I wouldn't try it so she made me wait until after I tasted it to tell me what was in it.

She taught me to be competitive and a good sport. She would teach me to play a game, but then once I understood the rules, she played to win. I knew that when I did win the game that I won based on my own merit and not because she let me win. Yes, in the beginning while I was learning, she let me win. But then I was on my own. When extended family would visit, we played several different card games. She grew up on a farm and that's what they did in the evening. We got very competitive and we truly had a good time together, making memories and sharing experiences.We often laughed until we cried.

When I went to college, my grandma made sure that I knew she was behind me 100%. She may not have agreed with my choice of college, I went to BYU and I know she would have preferred me stay in state and go to the University of Washington but she still was there for me.

She taught me that I needed to try new things, to develop my talents. I am so grateful for the quiet ways she influenced me and helped me believe in myself. I hope that she would be proud of my new adventure that I've been embarking on in setting up my own photography and restoration business. Thanks Grandma for believing in me.

Print vs. Digital Files

When was the last time you backed up your pictures? Do you still have files on old floppy disks? Are you able to access those pictures? Technology has advanced and it's so easy to lose files because we can no longer access them. We bought a laptop a few months ago, and it didn't have a cd drive. How much longer will cd's still be around. Printing your pictures is a sure way to be able to view them. My dad loves to write poetry and so I asked him for his thoughts on printing pictures and this is what he came up with.

    Where Did The Typewriter Go?

From manual to electric it was great,

But could not last in this state.

Then came the Commodore 64

And added was the word processor.

From this the computer grew,

And leaving me to wish I knew.

I asked my kids to show me how,

And so I can E-mail now.

Floppy discs and CDs I don't understand

But it's okay 'cause they didn't stand.

Thumb or flash drives I can do,

But cloud storage I cannot do.

I see strange things like megabytes and more

And other things and ways for info to store.

And when things happen a phone is always there

To record for media to pick up and share.

I don't know tweet, twitter or texting,

And Skype and Facebook are vexing.

But it's easy the pictures to store,

And when deleted, it makes you sore.

So to assure they are saved and seen

They must be printed on paper clean,

And labeled with love and care,

For your posterity to hold and share.

A.A.Owens

16 October 2015

2015 Evergreen State Fair

This was the 3rd year I was able to be out at the Evergreen State Fair photographing everything that happens. The weather wasn't the best, but everything proceeded as scheduled. There was a little excitement the first Saturday of the fair as a huge wind storm hit the area and power outages were reported in Seattle up to Mount Vernon. The morning started out cloudy and the rain held off during the Monroe Parade. The fair board participants in the parade, and I was assigned to go with them. It started to rain just as we headed back to the fairgrounds and as we arrived we were told that Seattle Power and Light had called out all their linesmen due to the storm. We were lucky at the fair grounds. First of all, we didn't lose power and second, a tree came down without anyone getting hurt. I was about 40 feet when I heard the tree crack and I watched it crash to the ground.

Taking pictures at the fairgrounds is always an opportunity to capture the colors and images of so many activities.

                                                        Concerts are always a highlight.

 

 

 

 

                                           Love all the animals, the dogs are my favorite.

I think my favorite part of the fair to shoot is the rodeo. Lots of action. This bull was mad, and he let everyone know it. It's interesting watching the rider try and get ready when the bull is already bucking in the pen. This bull almost came up and over while he was waiting in the holding pen for the gate to be opened. One of the wranglers let me know, as I was shooting through the fence, that if the bull jumped the fence that the cable wouldn't hold him. I made sure I had an escape route in case he came too close.

Watching the clown work gave me a greater appreciation for his skill. More than once he put himself in harms way to protect a cowboy who had been bucked off.  The announcer was teasing the clown at one point about the bull hitting the protective can. Not long after that, one of the bulls did hit it and the clown was able to tuck safely inside. 

The lights of the carnival are fun to capture at night. After a long day, it's a good opportunity to get shots you can't get during the day. Capturing the night life is recording a whole different side of the fair.

Kids and the fair go together hand in hand. You can't but help have fun when you see the excitement in their eyes as they go from one event to the next. The minion was the most photographed part of the fair this year. There weren't many times when someone wasn't taking pictures with him.

2015 was a great fair. What will 2016 hold?

Christmas time and memories

If you have the opportunity to get together with family this Christmas, take the time to collect some family stories, write them down or better yet, record them. Go through picture albums and reminiscence and record those memories. It's really sad when family members pass away and they are the only ones who can identify people are in the pictures.

As you go through your pictures, label them. One thing I do with my old pictures is to make notes on sticky notes and attach them to the back of the photos, then later I can go back and transfer that information to wherever I need it. You don't want to use pens because they can bleed through  or if the pictures are stacked, it can smear onto another picture. You want to preserve your pictures and also make copies of them. Scanners are a good way to make copies of your pictures or if you're comfortable, you can use a camera to digitize those precious photos. Don't store pictures in magnetic albums, the albums are acidic and will eat away at your pictures.  If there is writing on the back of the pictures (people used to do that years ago, scan that information and you will also have your ancestors handwriting - got kids? See if they can read it, if not make sure to transcribe it). If you have pictures stuck to those pages, before you try and remove the pictures, I recommend getting a high quality scan and save it in a .tif format rather than .jpg. Removing stuck pictures from magnetic albums takes patience. One way to successfully remove those pictures is to very carefully slide dental floss between the picture and album page. Remember patience is key when you do this.

Share your photos, familysearch.com and ancestry.com. People working on family history love to find pictures of shared ancestors, and share the stories you have too. We have so many treasures that we can share with our families.

Over time pictures can be damaged or faded. Don't throw them away.  If you have any that are faded, discolored, torn, damaged, etc. let me know and I can bring them back to life. Pictures enable us to remember parts of our life we've forgotten.

And also have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your loved ones.

Edward and Clois Owens

Edward and Clois Owens were married on October 3, 1917 in Salt Lake City, Utah in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. They had 15 children, and 12 of those children lived to adulthood. They had 3 sons serve in World War II, one whom died on Okinawa. 2 other sons served in the Korean war and 1 served in the Vietnam war.  They lived a hard life but they taught their children how to work hard, how to serve others, and how to love. This picture was taken in 1965 and it faded with time.This is possibly one of the last pictures of them taken together, Clois passed away in 1969.

What a privilege it was to work on this picture, especially since they are my grandparents. 

If you have any pictures that you would like restored, please contact me at cherisphotos10@gmail.com for a quote.