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VIDEO: Photo restoration
Helen Dawkins talks about her passion for photography, restoring people's treasured memories, and Winston Churchill
When Helen Dawkins decided to take a photography course while living in New York she discovered a love of old photographs and social history which would last her a lifetime.
And when Helen came back to her home in Radwell she set up a photograph restoration service, Black and White Revival, conserving people's treasured family histories across the country.
The business offers cleaning of old photographs and mounts, repairs to photographs printed on paper, card metal or glass, treatment for photo discolouration and advice on storing special images.
She said: "One of the first photographs I worked on was of the home that my dad grew up in.
"I really love the social history aspect of my work and enjoy using traditional processes to get the best results."
And Helen has had the opportunity to use her skills to work on some priceless finds.
She said: "Everyone's photographs are interesting in their own way but one of the most interesting finds was completely by chance.
"A client has bought a photograph album at an auction which contained some very close shots of Winston Churchill when he was inspecting the troops in Normandy.
"By coincidence the client was good friends with Winston Churchill's grandaughter and wanted to give her the restored photographs as a gift.
"I am told she was delighted with them."
And Helen's work, which involves cleaning glass negatives, creating negatives from an original copy and making new or re-sized prints, has thrown up some interesting finds closer to home.
She said: "Another interesting shot came from a client and it was of her grandmother.
"The picture shows her, her grandfather, and strangely his pet badger that the client told me he used to keep in a barrel.
"We reduced the picture to a more manageable size and it's back hanging on the wall."
But Helen admitted that working with old photographs had produced some spooky experiences.
She said: "I was working on a negative in the darkroom and beside the person in the photograph there was a shadowy figure coming out.
"When I re-did the image it was there again but the third time it had vanished.
"It felt like I had this ghostly ancestor looking back at me."
To find out more about Black and White Revival and what is done visit www.blackandwhiterevival.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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