When I updated my technological toys earlier this year and actually entered the 21st century, one of items I replaced was my computer scanner. To my delight, I found that this new scanner was not only faster, not only capable of scanning photo negatives, but also able to scan in slides. That is, the kind of slides that people would often take in place of photographs.
I have very vivid and pleasant memories of gathering together in our family room, setting up a movie screen, making popcorn and just looking at slides – and sometimes throwing in an 8mm home movie as well. But even just looking at slides was a fun family event. My Dad still has these slides in his possession and brought over a little gray suitcase full of them. I worked my way through the bulk of them and while most were from his childhood and teenage years, there were some of me as a baby, too (like this one for instance).
An additional feature of the scanner was an amazing color restoration button that would actually transform a bleached-out, faded, and densely-red Ektachrome slide into a vibrant, colorful image. I don’t claim to know how that is even possible, nor do I really care, but I was very happy with the results in most cases.
Here are a few of the images I found most fascinating. My very favorite one is of my Dad’s family gathered around an umbrella table taken in 1963 at an Augusta, Georgia motel. The image just oozes nostalgia with the styles, colors, and old-fashioned Coke bottles – and even more importantly, I know these people! They are my Aunt Dottie and Uncle Bill, Grandmother, Dad, and Grandfather. My Grandfather died of a heart attack later that year, so I never got to meet him.
That’s my Dad in a photo above with dog Bozo, a new bicycle, and a 1955 Chevrolet, taken in his front yard in the Summer of 1959. Below is the house I grew up in until I was six years old. The snow-covered yard and the warm glow of the lights inside remind me of Christmas, and the Santa Claus on the front door verifies it. If only you could go back… More nostalgic slides at a later date..
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