Retouch

I am sure the Retouch assignment made many of us reach for old family pictures that have suffered through several moves, a lot of handling and have yellowed from the years. One of the few images that I had brought with me when I moved to the United States is a family portrait of my grandparents as a young couple that was taken around 1928 in Salzburg and despite my best efforts at preserving it the picture shows a lot of wear and tear. I was amazed at the tools that Photoshop provides to take off the scratches and smudges. Working on the image was particularly meaningful to me as I have never studied the faces in the image for such a length of time and in such detail. I have never met my grandfather - he passed away when my mother was ten years old and I only vaguely remember my grandmother - I was a small child when she died - only last week a family friend in Austria told me that I most resemble my great-grandmother who is also shown in the photograph. So working on the image was a little journey through time and family history - very welcome and meaningful to me.