I enjoy restoring old photos as a hobby. This photo is of my great-great grandmother. You can see how badly it was cracked and torn, but with a little TLC, I was able to stitch it back together, good as new.

Not my family, but a Korean family that asked me to restore this old family photo:

A Korean girl.

Today I ventured into Diamonds & Rust in Aldie, VA and came across a treasure trove of old photographs. The owner told me she gets boxes and boxes of old photographs from estate sales which is lucky for me, but makes me a bit sad because they no longer belong to the families that they came from. I wish more people found value in these old photos. They tell a story about a time we will never know in person, but we can relive through these visual documentations. Here are a few that I adopted. =)

I love how the children are sort of looking in different directions. Goes to show you that not all things change with time. Makes me wonder where and when this photo was taken? What happened to these children? Where are their descendants living now?

This one caught my eye because the little girl seems so sweet and appears to be about the same age my daughter is now. I love the softness of the light and the use of studio backdrops and props. It’s a bit of a lost art form. Isn’t it amazing how photography has changed so much over the years? Even the mediums we use today is foreign from what anyone could conceive back when these were taken. Makes me long to use film again. There is something so tangible about it.

I wonder if she was a picture bride from Japan?

I found this one to be interesting, as though they are all prepping food while sitting in a land-locked boat. The lady standing behind the boat appears to be Korean (by the way her hair is tied back low on her head, as opposed to the updo style the Japanese ladies in the boat have), while the lady standing off to the right of the boat holding a parasol appears to be a westerner. A Missionary perhaps?

I love this western woman wearing a Kimono. =)

I’m guessing this is circa 1920′s or 1930′s based on the western woman’s hairstyle and attire. The girl standing in the back left appears to be of mixed Eurasian heritage.

And I absolutely love this one. I’m guessing she’s Chinese, but I’m not really sure.

My friend Lauren has started this wonderful blog where she shares some Photoshop tutorials about how to fine-tune your images. So if you’re a beginner or experienced user, go take a look at some of the topics she has to offer. They are easy to follow and she also provides visual examples for each step.

I have to give props to this school for offering free, state-funded classes to the public. All you’ve gotta do is fill out a scantron form and you can take any computer class you want. You can’t beat it and the instructors are awesome. Want to learn Microsoft or Adobe software? They’ll teach you. Want to learn how to edit videos? They’ll teach you. Want to learn how to program and code a website? They’ll teach you. Free, free, free! I don’t know if any other city/state offers such courses, but I cannot praise them enough. I took their multimedia class and learned how to render 3D images, use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Flash… completely life changing.