Who are Jimmie and Mrs Martyn?
This picture is where it all started for me. Back in 1985 I inherited the image from my Grandmother. On the reverse was written 'Jimmie and Mrs Martyn'. There was a real old-world charm to the photo, but it left me with so many questions. Where was this taken? Why is the flower box front and centre? Who is Mrs Martyn? Is Jimmy Mr Martyn? Could I get away with a neckerchief?
Of course, by the time I owned the picture, all this information was lost and there was nobody I could ask. And it was then that I realised that photos are only half the story. Without context, without information, without their story they will always lack something essential.
This is why I started The Picture Curator. It is my mission to help people preserve not only their photos and their memories, but to bind them with their stories so that generations to come will understand what the photos mean, not just what they show.
The Next Steps
I got my first photo scanner in 1998, and one of the very first images I made was from this photo. At the time I was barely aware of digital photo manipulation - I was mostly playing around, but also understood the value of having a back-up copy of the picture.
It was only later when I discovered the pre-photoshop software, JASC Software's Paint Shop Pro, that I realised that I could clean and repair the image, improve the contrast, and remove the sepia tone, which I had never particularly liked. And, of course, I could do all of this while keeping the hard-copy original, and the first, unaltered scan I had taken.
Things have moved on since then , and the opportunities to restore and enhance old photographs has grown. Although I don't like to use A.I. to generate or fake photographs, It has potential to help remove small flaws in pictures that might otherwise detract. So when I had the opportunity to try it, the first thing I did was bring back good old Jimmie and Mrs. Martyn, and use A.I. to slightly sharpen the focus of the image.
So 40 years on from inheriting this picture, It can still inspire me to create, to improve and enhance. Please use the slider on the photo to see the before and after images.
