My parents recently produced two boxes of colour slides, which had been stored away in their house for a number of years. The slides consisted of photos taken by my paternal grandparents, Charles George Hibbitt and Ivy Alice (nee Dando), ranging from the 1930’s to the early 1970’s, including family pictures and places they visited. My grandpa enjoyed photography and from time to time he’d convert the bathroom into a temporary dark room.
Grandpa’s Old Slides
Eager to view these images I set about scanning them with my Epson Perfection V200 Photo scanner, which has a slide scanning facility, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the results. The software allows for colour restoration and backlight correction as well as other fine-tuning features. Even the darkest of slides rendered a viewable picture.
My Old Epson Perfection V200 Photo Scanner
The slide scanning feature of my Epson Scanner
Epson Scan Software
Amongst the assortment of photographs, there are images of 1950’s London, the ‘new’ M1 motorway, cruising on the Norfolk Broads and boating in Devon.
This got me thinking what a privilege it is to have this informal family collection of pictures, which are in colour, dating back to this time. We also have informal black and white photographs dating back further. If I could, I’d say a big thank you to my late grandparents for this legacy.
I’ll be posting some of these images in due course so watch this space!
[Update 2025: Nowadays I have an Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner which operates in a similar way.]
