Students bring old damaged photographs back to life

IF YOU have an old photo that is damaged and needs restoring, students are making their skills available for free to bring the image back to life, reports Maurice Garvey.

Students at Ballyfermot College of Further Education might be able to help, but they are limited as to how many restorations they can complete, as the project runs for a limited number of weeks.

It will operate on a first come, first served basis.

Portfolio students from Art Graphics & Printmaking along with students from Art Design and Three Dimensional Studies are offering this service as part of a community art programme.

The lady in the accompanying picture is “Annie Flood”, the great grandmother of Louise Boughton, a Ballyfermot woman and Course Co-Ordinator at BCFE.

It is from Annie’s wedding photo, taken around 1920.  From the Liberties, Annie worked all her life as a seamstress and dresser for the Theatre Royal in Dublin, making costumes and dressing the stars of the day.

If anyone is interested, contact Brian.Walsh@bcfe.cdetb.ie and he will arrange a time when you can come to the college and have your photographed scanned. Your photo will be returned to you immediately.

The digitised images are then distributed amongst the students to restore and colourise.  Participants will receive a high resolution, digitized version of their photograph via email which they can then print.

Students in the course don’t just do photo restoration, they also learn the fundamentals of drawing, painting, photography and design along with other modules. These programmes are QQI accredited.