An elderly man came into the studio one day and said he had a picture of himself that he wanted me to look at. He wanted to see if I could make a copy for him before his picture ‘wore out.’ He opened his wallet, looked though the folded and crumpled notes, and pulled out a tiny, one by two inch, wrinkled old picture. He said it was a photograph of himself when he was a much younger man.
He had been a cross country truck driver and had carried his photo with him in his wallet. He said he ‘used to be a good-looking’ man and he wanted his children and grandchildren to know how handsome he used to be. His children had never seen the picture and he wanted to have copies made for each one of them.
After seeing my restoration, the Cigar Man was extremely pleased! He declared that he was “good-looking” again. ?
By the way….your wallet is NOT the best place to keep ‘one of a kind” photographs. Also, before you try to copy any image on a scanner, be sure the scanner glass is clean. You should also clean your image in a way not to cause more damage. Some people use a soft cotton cloth but do not apply much pressure. I have found that gently blowing away any dust or particles is a better solution for me. Sometimes I use compressed air and am VERY CAREFUL not to cause any moisture to get on the photograph.IF YOUR IMAGE IS TOO DELICATE/DAMAGED for either of the above, scan as is – you don’t want to cause more damage.
By all means do not laminate the only image you have. Laminates tend to yellow over the years and causes more work should you want to restore the photograph later. If you want to carry a photo in your wallet, laminate a copy but keep the original in a safe protective environment.
I hope that these tips will be helpful to you! See you again next week!