FIXYOURPHOTO

Valentines DAY

2011-02-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day. Love is in the air. It's a great time of year to check out those old photos of family members that were married so many years ago. If they have any anniversaries coming up, now would be a good time to have those old photos repaired. If you live in the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis, St. Paul) stop by our office for a free estimate. Our address is 2340 Charles Ave, St. Paul, MN 55114. Anywhere else in America, please check out our website and send your photos digitally online. Let us restore your memories. Happy Valentines Day Minnesota!

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No Restoration Needed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

2011-01-17T10:27:00.001-08:00

We restore damaged photos all the time, but the I have a dream speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. needed no restoration what so ever. There is no doubt, this is one of the greatest speeches ever spoken in America, and Martin Luther King Jr. Will always be remembered as an American Icon.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day! Below is the I have a dream speech.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

RESTORE OLD FARM PHOTOS

2011-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

Are those old farm photos collecting dust or color faded? As you can see below, we can help. The color of the image had faded and had a green hue to it. We were able to restore the original color by using several digital color restoration techniques. There was also some minor scratches that were removed. Nothing major for damage on this one, other than the color. The client was very pleased with the end result, as were we.

If you ever need anything like this done, please contact us. You either can visit our website www.fixyourphoto.com to submit an image yourself, or you can bring the image into our office. All estimates are free, and we are more than happy to help you with your photo restoration needs.

We are located at

2340 Charles Ave
St. Paul, MN 55114

Phone: 651.917.0500

www.fixyourphoto.com

PLEASE CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Independence Day

2010-07-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

I recently shot some footage over the 4th. Obviously the footage was of Fireworks being Independence day and all. I shot on my new LG Rumor touch. Now we all know that video and photography is not very good on most cell phones. And, why should it be? It's a cell phone made for making calls,not for capturing great memories.

Any way I took some pretty mediocre footage of the fireworks and transformed it into something magical. By combining the footage, and making it play at multiple angles. We get the effect we see below. Take a look at both versions of the footage. You can compare the before and after. This effect can be reached with most video editing software.

Before

AFTER

Another Color Faded Image

2010-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Below we have another color faded image. This is most likely and early 70's photo. When we brought the color back to life it was amazing.

So often we see those old images and we just think that's the way those colors really where back then. Over time we forgot and believed that the colors seen there were actually as they were.

Well it's not so. The colors in the clothes that people were wearing back then were as bright and vibrant as any clothes you can find at stores today. The Cameras however are much better today (cell phone cameras excluded). Images taken today represent color much better.

Obviously there is no way to re-shoot this image. So we had to do what we know how to do best. Photo Repair was the name of the game. Please click on the image to view it larger.

Click on Images to enlarge

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Photo Remix

2010-06-25T09:44:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you have professional photography (that you own the rights to of course) that is out of date, but you don't want to pay a photographer to come out and shoot everything again? You come to www.fixyourphoto.com where we can manipulate those old shots.

A company came to us with this very problem. Below you will see one of the examples we did for them. The example was one of the more difficult of the many images we worked on. They wanted the tables cleared and some things moved around and added. The hardest areas where some of the smallest areas in the photo.

Place your eyes towards the back where the TV was implanted. If you take a look at the closest table. You will notice in the original there is really no information to go from to recreate the chair that was covered by the old menu. It was extremely tedious and frustrating, but I had to stay the course.

Very proud of the end result. If your interested in having any sort of image manipulation of your professional photography. We are your restoration experts. Please visit our website www.fixyourphoto.com for any questions or a free estimate.
We can help, and we treat every photo we work on as if it were our own.

Oh and Independence Day is right around the corner. So Happy 4th of July to all and to all a good fire work shall be had.

WWW.Fixyourphoto.com

Click on Image to enlarge

At first glance?

2010-06-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

This was one of the most difficult jobs we've done at www.fixyourphoto.com in a while. The original was a tin image, most likely from the late 1800's. Upon first viewing the image it looked fairly simple. The contrast and sharpness needed to be brought out. A few of the corners needed to be replaced. Pretty cut and dry no big deal right?

Wrong!!! Look what happened (above) when we brought the image back to life with enhancements.
The amount of scratches on the image was far more than we originally anticipated. (click image below to see scratches close up)

It took many hours to complete this photo repair job. There were many times I had to switch and look at a different project. Sometimes it's hard to look at the same photo hour after hour. The mind can get very bored. How many people out there go to a museum and just stare at the same piece of art for hours on end. I want to look at different images. I think everyone does. Especially today's society with all of our gadgets and distractions. We've got new devices coming out every week. The new Iphone just came out for example. I think it's called the Iphone4. People camped out at the Apple stores over night just so they could have the newest gadget to suck the soul out.

Have you ever heard of someone being afraid that a camera would steal part of their soul. Maybe it's actually these new devices that are truly stealing our souls. I can't tell you how many times I've walked down the street and there were several people engaged in their devices, and not the world happening right in front of them.
There have been people who have died texting and driving. People are putting their devices in front of their lives.

Where were we again? Oh yes the photo. The final image is below. It turned out very well. The long hours paid off in the end. The customer and my self are very happy with the results. Put that on your Iphone and view it huh!!!

Your photo Restoration Friend

www.fixyourphoto.com

Collage

2009-10-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

This collage (below) was created using three different pictures of the same boy. The images were all pretty damaged, and they needed special attention in different ways. No photo is ever damaged in the same way.

As you can see the images on the left are the damaged ones, and the collage on the right represents the restored images. Look at how the red image on the left turned out in the collage. I think it turned out very well, and the customer loved the photo collage.

CROP

2009-10-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

CROP

Take a look at the family photo below. The customer wanted himself cropped out of the photograph. So we brought the color back to life, and rotated the image so the man was more vertical and centered in the photo.

The size he wanted was an 11X14. Doing this with such an image can have some undesirable consequences. The image had to be stretched out to fit the 11X14 size. Making the image a bit grainy. Still it really didn't turn out that bad. Considering the original image itself was an 11X14. You can see how small he is in the original.

Great half restored Photo

2009-10-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

The images above are great. The customer did not want to pay the full amount to get the image completely repaired, but they did want the faces cleaned up. As you can see in the second image we have removed the scribbles. (please click on the images to make them bigger)

This is still a great piece even with the partial restoration. Look at the clothes they are wearing. What life must have been like back then. It's amazing when we look at photos like this and imagine the future. Who will be looking at the photos we took? What will they think about the time we live in?

Photo Restoration

2009-08-28T13:51:00.001-07:00

What a great photo. This says 1950's all day. There wasn't really any damage done to the image, and the customer needed it to be blown up. I thought it was a good one.

Wedding Photo

2009-08-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

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The wedding photo above is 40 years old. The quality had gone down hill, and it needed some attention. We all know wedding photos are some of the most important of all the family photos. Just ask any woman who is married.

Preserve the past for generations to come. Even if you can't get your old images repaired. It is a good idea to back them up to a disc. Your safe from natural disasters destroying your photos if you make a copy of that disc to store some place other than your home. Maybe at your bank in a safety deposit box.

If your interested in getting your photos backed up to a disc, or having them restored. Please visit our website www.fixyourphoto.com to get a free estimate.

Summers End

2009-08-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is finally coming to an end. This was a very cool dry summer. Very little rain ,and not much for heat. I hope that means we are in store for a warm fall season. A mild winter would also be very nice.

Christmas will be right around the corner, and I'm sure many people are looking for great gift ideas. A repaired old photo is always a very sentimental gift, and puts joy into peoples hearts.

Unfortunately many customers of ours wait until it's to late to try to get this accomplished. They have come in days before Christmas wanting a miracle job (extremely damaged photo)completed for Christmas. It just can't be done by the time they want it. Do not hesitate when it comes to getting something creative done for someone for the holiday season.

Visit our website if your interested in giving a gift this season that will touch a family members heart.

WWW.FIXYOURPHOTO.COM

Tattoo Removal

2009-03-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

Lets be honest tattoos are pretty cool(to most people anyway). Tattoos are everywhere these days. You can't go to far out in public with out seeing one on somebody. Everybody has different opinions about tattoos,and no matter how you feel about them. Tattoos are here to stay. Unless you want them removed that is.

I've kind of always wanted a tattoo, but haven't really found anything I want on my body forever. I know there are people out there who look at their tattoos and think What was I thinking? They end up paying a lot of money to have them removed.

We just did a job for one of our customers who wanted a tattoo removed from an image. Which by the way is far cheaper than getting the tattoo itself removed. We've done several jobs like this in the past.

If you take a look at the clip provided you can see the before and after of this job. Not only did we remove the tattoo, but we brought out the color, and cleaned up the image. This is a great image to highlight our photo restoration talents. If you ever need anything like this done please visit our website. www.fixyourphoto.com

Please check out the small clip of Tattoo removal I've included.

Happy St. Patrick's

2009-03-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today is a celebration for the Irish. There was a great logo created by one of our designers a couple years ago. I just had to look it up for this posting. The client never ended up using it, and I changed the words to reflect this day. Which by the way is very beautiful. I don't remember the last time St. Patty's was this nice.

Updating those old photos to the new digital world

2009-03-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

If you have a collection of old photos. Why not turn them all digital? I recently came across a great blog about digital photo frames and old photos. Digital frames have become very popular over the past few years, and they are becoming more affordable. Sadly I've not seen enough people putting classic images in these frames.

These frames can be used to display many images including those old family albums collecting dust in the basement. Why not dust those old albums off and preserve those memories in a digital way? Some of those images wont last much longer unless you protect them. It's a good idea to back them up in some way. You may as well display them in a digital frame if you had them scanned.

Click on this link for the article that I read. Scanning all your old images can be a great way to preserve memories. If you don't want to do tons of scanning we can take care of that as well as any restoration that needs to be done. Visit fixyourphoto.com to learn more.

Interesting Frame Idea

2009-03-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

I recently came across this image at a great craft website called Crafty Daisies. The photo is surrounded by dried flowers. Inspires to be creative. Doesn't it? Please check out craftydaisies blog. If your into crafts you have to go there. These are some creative ladies with lots of great ideas.

Check It Out

craftydaisies

In other news the photo repair world has slowed down a lot since Christmas. There is a good chance it could pick up again with spring cleaning right around the corner. People start to clean out that old junk drawer or that attic and they come across old photos.

Some of these old photos we come across are so precious, so mind numbingly beautiful that we just simply must get them repaired. Like the one of Grandpa with his pipe from the 40's or what about that one of Uncle Ray doing that crazy dance with his cane. These images will fade in to the depths of time unless you preserve them quickly. If nothing else at least get them all scanned so you have them backed up.

John Berard
Photo Dept. Manager
VA Graphics Inc
FIXYOURPHOTO.COM

FIRST CANADIAN JOB

2009-03-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

After over ten years of doing photo repair we finally got our first Canadian job. Our new fixyourphoto.com website made it all possible. It also turns out that our first job from Canada happened to be a very good photo. This image has so much character. Anyone who is interested in old photos can appreciate this image. The child's face has a story to tell all on it's own.

As far as the restoration goes. Getting a scan from some of these old images can be difficult even with the latest technology. Different scanning techniques can some times help in getting a better scan. That was not the case with this image. We had to recreate the portions of the image that would not show up due to glare. The final image turned out to be a great restoration. The customer loved it and that makes us very happy. We aim to please and that's exactly what we've done in this case.

Keep sending us your images Canada.

Color Restoration Success

2009-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

This was a recent color restoration job. The photo is of a little boy with dreams of becoming a Fire Engine Chief. Over the years the sun had taken a toll on this photo. The customer wanted this image to look like new again. We worked our magic, and It turned out very well. The customer was very happy with the work, and we were pleased to help. Maybe this job reminds you of an important photo that you have where the color has faded. Don't let those memories fade. Valentines Day is just around the corner and it would be a great sentimental gift for anyone. Restore your photo today with Va Graphics Inc

John Berard
Photo Department Manager

Testimonial from This Customer

Hello:
We had a chance to get everyone together and present the "restored" photos. Our family were absolutely thrilled with the results - it was a surprise present to them as they had no idea the restoration was being done - and so successfully.
So this is an "attaboy" to VA Graphics and a grateful "Thank you" for a job very well done.
Karen and John Ward