Tuesday's Treasures

On Tuesday's we often take a trip down memory lane with some "remember when" photos and stories. It could be photos from a high school prom; a nostalgic look at a 1950's TV program or a collage of family photos that were just taken last week.

Restoring the Past

Since it is my privilege to teach Photoshop to Boomers and Seniors at a junior college in Dallas, I often get to see unique images. This restoration by Frank Fandrick is one of them. He did a great job of restoring lost detail in this picture of Rice’s Sudden Service Station.

This restoration involved rebuilding entire sections of the image as well as enhancing the interesting text on the sides and pillars of the station. Also, with the help of some cropping and Photoshop Elements' lighting and cloning tools, several interesting details show up.

He said, "This is the image of the father of a friend from church, Mr. Rice. The picture was taken in 1924 and is a gas station in Idabel, Oklahoma.

The town had been named Pernell, but then was renamed Idabel after the two daughters (Ida and Belle) of the man given the task of renaming the town. It has 7,000 people now, but was smaller then. Idabel now has the title of Dogwood Capital of Oklahoma.

The text ‘I Know The Road’ written vertically on the side of one of the posts was important because there were not many roadmaps around and the hope was that when the driver stopped to get directions they would buy some gas (see the two pumps) or oil, or even Coca Cola, as one of the signs show. There are various tires hanging around and you can see the lines for what were water or air pumps. They don't make them like that anymore." The gas station was a 24 hour place, something not too common in those days.

The original picture as you can see below was badly washed out.

Many thanks to Frank for sharing this story and picture with us. Antique images present a unique view of our past and should be protected and restored whenever possible. These pictures help spur our interest in history, not only of the profound events of our past, but every day events in life as well.