We were given Christmas Eve until this coming Monday off as holiday and it has been a nice time to catch up on some projects. One of those projects has been to scan old family photos to preserve them and to make books with them with My Publisher or another online book maker. Using the office copier I was able to scan multiple photos at once at a fraction of the time our all-in-one printer/scanner/fax is able to scan. With an 11 by 17 surface I was able to scan many photos at once at high resolutions with only a 3 second pass. Photoshop Elements 8 then automatically separates and straightens them into individual pics. The same program has allowed me to restore many old pics, some with extensive damage. Even with all these shortcuts the project is time consuming with so many photos. However, it has been wonderful to be so intimately connected with these people, many of whom I never met, and with whom I share DNA. I've always felt a connection to my Great Grandfather, Ninian Welch. He was a prominent Chicagoan, lawyer and later a judge. He was known as a great lay preacher and Christian educator. People would gather to hear him speak. I have shared two pics that I have restored as best as I could that document this fact. I only wish I had a copy of one of his talks.
If you go back further you find that Ninian was a grandnephew of a famous Scottish preacher, John Welch. I'm still trying to unlock that gene.
As I manipulate pixels on these photos I reflect on history, family, DNA, life and death. Pretty big stuff. However, mostly I am infused with gratitude and love. All of these people had their strengths and weaknesses, both of which repeat in various forms in subsequent generations. In knowing myself I feel that I know them better than I I think I do.
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