More From the Dig

In yesterday’s post, I took a pic of some straight razors. I also unearthed a box of old photos. And the one on the top intrigues me to this day. I remembered that I had “digitally restored” this one a couple of years ago. I slapped my old hard drive in the external drive box, and lo and behold, there were the before and after versions. Years ago I worked in the only professional photo lab in the Jackson Purchase. I was a spotter and finisher in the art department. I learned to cover tiny dust spots, scratches, and any stray airborne debris that might cling to the negatives, and thus appear in and mar the final prints. We used photo dyes we mixed by hand, and sable brushes that we trimmed and plucked until only a single hair protruded at the tip. And that is what we corrected the photos with. If the order was large with lots of the same print, you had to correct the same imperfection over and over and over again. But it was one of my favorite jobs ever. When I got my first copy of Photoshop though, I could see the writing on the wall. Anyone with a computer could correct, alter and enhance any photo with no need for an art department. Other than my web browser, Photoshop is my most used program. I can easily lose an entire day manipulating photos, the possibilities are endless. Today’s photo is one of the first ones that I did extensive work on. It was learn by doing, the self-taught method. I could probably do a better job now, but I’m keeping these files for old times sake. Now to the photo. It is one of those old ones that is mounted on a cardboard type mat. On the back is written “taken in Delray, Mich. May 31, 1912”. First, the scan of the original time worn photo, then my amateur effort at restoration.





There are 2 gentlemen on the far left, one holding his bicycle and wearing a cap, and the other posed against a pole, wearing a straw boater. His pose suggests he may be an employee of the show. Or he could be the escort of the young lady in white. I would guess that the man behind the podium is the barker. The fellow on the ground to the left of the podium seems to be a worker too, bein as he doesn’t have a suit coat on, like you would expect from a visitor. Now for the folks on the box. The young lady in white I would guess to be a carnival goer. She appears to be having fun and is dressed in white. White would be ok for a stroll through the midway, but would definitely not hold up well if the midway was where you worked. The man in the middle doesn’t appear very jolly, but he is wearing a tie. No hat though, as a visitor probably would. Maybe he is one of the snake handlers. The lady to his right does not appear to be amused either. Her no-nonsense expression, the size of her hand, and the way she grips the snake tells me I would not want to arm wrestle with her. I’d guess carny, but I could be wrong. As many times as I have looked at this photo, I still love to zoom in on it and look for details I may have missed. Then I zoom back out and look at the whole picture. It’s a moment frozen forever, a moment of American innocence, just a short time before we were drawn into World War I. There’s a good chance that at least one of the folks in this photo was a first or second generation American, with family ties to a homeland in Europe. Soon enough, the clouds of war would shadow their world, but for this one brief moment, they were all enjoying the sunshine of a young America, and a day at the carnival.