A new geek for me - colorizing photographs

After reading about how people are colorizing old photographs for fun, I decided I wanted to try it.  But I don't have Photoshop on my computer, which was the program used in the tutorial I discovered on a Genealogy page on Facebook that I follow.  I have always used Gimp, so off to Google I went to find a similar tutorial for Gimp.  This tutorial is what I found that made the most sense to me.  I also have been using this site as another reference for things like skin tone and the like.

I spent about five hours working on a few photographs.  I really shouldn't have been up until the odd hours of the night, but the process had me hooked.  Here is what I did in those five hours.  I also started a third photo, but it wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to.  I had to crop the photo of my Vautier ancestor because some of the background was a little hard to color because it was out of focus.



The colored photos that are posted here are the work of Kelley Wood-Davis.  If you would like to use a copy of them, please ask for permission.

William J. Vautier, my mother's great grandfather.

The colored version of his photo - This photograph was colored by Kelley Wood-Davis March 2014.  PLEASE do NOT copy this without written permission!

Edward C. Waldspurger I, my mom's grandfather

The colored version - This photograph was colored by Kelley Wood-Davis March 2014.  PLEASE do NOT copy this without written permission!

I really enjoyed the process, and I may from time to time do this to other photos.  The fun part is trying to figure out what my ancestors' skin tones or hair color may have looked like.  For example, the photo I colored of Edward Waldspurger I used his World War II draft registration card.  It also helps that a number of family members today in the Waldspurger family have brown hair with auburn highlights, so I chose to make his brown hair slightly red..  It is in doing a project such as this, paying attention to complexion, eye color and skin color on a military form helps greatly.

The Giver: 1994 Newbery Award Book

The beginning of March 2014 I started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Jonas: The One Who Sees Beyond

"He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job which is most honored in our community."

In the Community where eleven-year-old Jonas lives, everything is the same.  No one is different, though they have different skills, it is rude to comment about something that makes them different.  The Community lacks the ability to feel, due to the choice long ago to go to "Sameness," but everyone is happy, as it is a seemingly Utopian society.  Jonas is discovered to have a gift that allows him to see beyond his Community, even though he does not understand, nor does anyone else in his community.  At the Ceremony of Twelve, when the children who are about to turn twelve receive their assignments for their adult careers, Jonas is selected to become the trainee of the most honored of his Community's Elders, The Receiver of Memory, the only one who knows what feelings, colors, and memories are.  Jonas, as the new Receiver, is given these memories from the old man, who calls himself The Giver, memories of warmth and love, of murder and pain, of life well before "Sameness".   In receiving these memories, Jonas learns that life in his Community isn't as happy as it seems, and he is torn between living the life he knows, or the one he longs for as a result of his memories.

This is the first book that I have read since undertaking this journey of reading all of the Newbery Award winning books that I had already read before.  I have read this book numerous times, and have read two of its sequels.  Every time I read it I notice something else in the story, another layer that makes me think.  The Giver, one of two Newbery Award winners by author Lois Lowry, is a story about what could happen if everything was the same.  I feel that it is a story of the human spirit triumphing over suppression, of love being able to conquer anything it chooses.  While the community is seemingly utopian, with everyone polite and devoid of any true feelings or differences that would make them self-conscious, it is ultimately a dystopian society with many problems, which is only seen by the two in the Community who hold on to the old memories.

Sounder: 1970 Newbery Award Winner

The beginning of March 2014 I started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Sounder: The Loyal Dog

Sounder by William H. Armstrong is a story about a sharecropping man, his son, and his wonderful hound dog Sounder.  When the man is arrested and taken away, Sounder tries to save him, resulting in his wounding.  But the dog lives, as  the result of careful tending by the son and his mother.  The son, only known as the boy, tries to find his father and find a way for his family to survive without the man of the house. 

This book depressed me, and I struggled to finish reading it.  As far as value as historical fiction goes, this was a great story of life as a poor Negro sharecropper.  There is much pain and suffering in this short novel, and while some of the characters seem content with their lot in life, it seemed harsh and saddening.  The only character named in the story is the dog, Sounder, who is named for the way his bark sounds through the woods.  

After reading some of the other Newbery Medal books lately and feeling uplifted at the end of the reading, I felt like I was kind of let down by Sounder.  While the boy does achieve his goals and there is a slight hopefulness to the end of the book, there also a feeling of injustice and discontent. 

The Graveyard Book: 2009 Newbery Medal Winner

The beginning of March 2014 I started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Nobody Owens: The Living Boy 

‟I know my name,‟ he said.  ‟I'm Nobody Owens.  That's who I am."

A toddler wanders through a graveyard, oblivious to the fact that he is the only one of his family still alive, oblivious to the evil that pursues him.  For nearly fifteen years, Nobody, nicknamed Bod, lives in an old London cemetery.  He is the only living soul, raised by the otherworldly inhabitants as their own.  He is taught basic skills such as reading and writing and history, as well as ghostly skills of fading and haunting.  He discovers the ways of the living and prepares to deal with the evil that stalks him with the help of his ghost parents, the friends of the graveyard, and his mysterious guardian, Silas, who lives in the dark. 

This book was unlike any children's book that I have ever read.  The ghost stories alone would have given me nightmares as a child.  The first chapter has a grisly murder scene in it, making this book a book that is not for the faint of heart, but a great story for anyone who loves suspense and fantasy.  I did enjoy this story immensely.  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman utterly fascinated me with its supernatural aspects and its descriptions of the characters as well as its original storyline.  The story is about wanting to belong; Bod wants to belong with his ghost family as well as with humans, while each of the ghosts wish they had ways of belonging when they were alive. 

Walk Two Moons: 1995 Newbery Award Winner

The beginning of March 2014 I started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.

Since I am on spring break this week, there will be more postings than usual.

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Salamanca Tree Hiddle: Storyteller and Searcher

"Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins."

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca "Sal" Hiddle is an only child whose mother has left.  Her father has uprooted her from her home in Kentucky and moved to Ohio, where Sal must learn to fit in amongst a group of extraordinary characters.  During the summer, her paternal grandparents scoop her and drive cross country to Idaho up to reunite her with her missing mother.  Along the way, Sal weaves a story of her new friends and the adventures that they have, particularly her friend Phoebe Winterbottom, whose own mother disappears and who discovers a "lunatic".

I just finished reading Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.  It seems lately that the Newbery Award books I have been reading all revolve around one or both parents that are missing or dead, and this story is no different.  Sal wishes her mother hadn't abandoned her, and spends most of the trip wishing her mother was with her now.  The weaving of the various stories, all revolving around mothers, was done very well.  The interspersing of Native American ideals (or Indian, as Sal prefers to identify herself) added another dimension to this tale.  The theme of this novel is grief.  Sal grieves being abandoned and being uprooted from all she knew while others grieve in different ways that make sense if you have read the novel.  Another theme is alienation and isolation, as most of the mothers in this story share in those feelings. 

A Wrinkle In Time: 1963 Newbery Award

The beginning of March 2014 I started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Meg and Charles Wallace Murray: The Misfits

"We tesser.  Or you might say, we wrinkle".

Throughout her life, Meg Murray felt as though she didn't fit in, that her little brother, Charles Wallace, didn't fit in either, and that everyone else was easily able to conform to society's norms.  While her mother and twin brothers can act the part, she and her little brother have nothing in common with the.  So she is surprised one day to find that the popular athlete, Calvin O'Keefe, also feels like an outcast. Add to that the mystery of her father's disappearance and the sudden arrival of three very odd stranger to their town and Meg doesn't know what's serious and what's not.  When the mysterious strangers discuss that there is a wrinkle in time and that Meg's father is caught in it somehow, Meg finds herself journeying with Charles Wallace and Calvin on a very strange and wondrous journey to find her father.

I had never read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle before stating this undertaking.  I had been told I would love it, but just never had the inclination to read it before this.  In fact, I had never read a single one of her books, which may surprise some of my friends given that I love fantasy and science fiction works.  Having just finished the book, I found that I really enjoyed it once I got into it.  I have to admit it did take me a good number of chapters to really be able to get into reading this book.  So much of A Wrinkle in Time reminded me of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy that I found myself pulled in. Knowledge and light overtaking darkness is a major theme of this book.  Love also is a theme of the novel and one could argue that this is an allegory of the Christian faith, such as many of C.S. Lewis' fiction books.  This is not surprising given that L'Engle was Christian. It is a great fantasy read as well, for those who enjoy the previously mentioned trilogies.  Perhaps after I am done with my project I will read the rest of her books, as A Wrinkle In Time is the first in a long serious of books dealing with the Murray and O'Keefe families.

Moon Over Manifest: 2011 Newbery Award

I have started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Manifest: To Reveal or to Make Known

"If there is such a thing as a universal..... it's that there is power in a story."  

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker knows one thing for certain, even if everyone else doubts it; her father will return,at the end of summer to get her.  At the height of the Depression, Abilene is sent to the town of Manifest, Kansas to spend the summer with friends of her father.  She arrives in time for the last day of school and receives an assignment from the solitary schoolteacher: write a story.  Abilene spends the summer figuring out just what her story is, as well as finding out the story of the town of Manifest.  Throughout her journey, she learns that she is helping to heal a town, and that loving and being loved both leave scars.

I read Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool without knowing anything about either the book or the author.  Perhaps that was a good thing, because I did not have any notions about what I might be reading and were able to discover both the author's storytelling ability and the story itself..  The story spans two distinct times in American History, as it covers both the end of World War One and the Spanish influenza epidemic as well as the middle of the Great Depression, when people had given up hope.  Being a History buff, the stories that are woven through the main plot were fascinating and brought to life an era that is often times drab and dreary for me.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and was captivated until the end by the themes of hope and hopelessness, of belonging and loneliness, of the story.   Clare Vanderpool was able to tell a story that is universal.  Like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, this story tells of heartbreak during the depression, but unlike the former, Moon Over Manifest was able to leave me feeling like something good is coming to the characters.  There is a power in this story.

The Midwife's Apprentice: 1996 Newbery Award

I have started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Alyce: The Girl Who Learns

"She was not an inn girl or a nursery maid or a companion to old women.  She was a midwife's apprentice with a newborn hope of being someday a midwife herself."

The story starts out with a nobody.  She had no home and had no name but Brat.  For as long as she could remember, she had no one to take care of her and had begged or stolen for scraps.  Brat is taken in, somewhat begrudgingly, by a midwife named Jane Sharp.  Jane gives the girl the nickname Beetle, and makes her work hard for what scraps she is given.  Beetle befriends an orange tabby cat, adopts a little beggar boy called Runt as her brother and begins to name those around her with no name.  The cat becomes Purr, the boy becomes Edward, and Beetle chooses the name Alyce. Eventually, by learning, overcoming her fears, and adapting, Alyce earns her place in the world, and the nobody becomes somebody. 

The Midwife's Apprentice, the 1996 Newbery Award winner by Karen Cushman, was an excellent read, and a great glimpse into the lives of villagers in Medival England.  While this book may not be entirely historically accurate, the story was plausible enough that it could happen.  The protagonist, first called Brat, then Beetle and finally Alyce, is a typical young girl for her time, edging on the verge of womanhood.  She has always been pushed down and bullied because of her homeless origins, and as a result, she feels she is stupid.  This resonates with those who feel like they can't ever get a break.  While the ending isn't a happily ever after ending, it left me feeling optimistic that Alyce would be able to find her way in the future.  

The Tale of Despereaux : 2004 Newbery Award

I have started a new undertaking: reading every single Newbery Medal Winner book.  A number of them I have read in the past, but I am reading them with fresh eyes,and reviewing them for others. I am not reading them in order, as some will require some effort on my part to find them all.  Want to keep track of which books I read?  Check them out at Confessions of a Wannabe Reader!

Cover of the book - The image is used for identification purposes only under the fair use clause.

Despereaux Tilling: the Mousy Rule-Breaker

"Once upon a time, there was a mouse who was very small...... And there was a beautiful human princess whose name was Pea."

Thus is the tale of a lowly mouse, the littlest and last of a family of mice living in a castle,who breaks the rules of the mouse to become a legend of his own making.  The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread was written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering.  It won the Newbery Medal in 2004.  It follows the story of Despereaux Tilling as he learns to love reading books instead of the paper they are on.  Music and light dazzle and amaze him, feeding him better than ordinary food.  Through this thirst for knowledge, he meets and falls in love with the human princess of the castle, Princess Pea.  Later, he must rescue her when evil comes up from the dungeons in the form of a light-loving rat named Chiaroscuro and his dim-witted accomplice, a human serving-maid by the name of Miggory Sow.

The book is an easy read, full of many descriptive passages and divided into four parts.  The story line echoed of themes and plot devices that were used in George MacDonald's books, The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie.  Similar themes and devices include; a humble and unlikely hero, evil that thrives in darkness, music and light being magical, forgiveness, and a resolution that leaves everyone feeling good about themselves.   The story reminded me also of Brian Jacques' Redwall series due to the use of animal characters.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, though the plot was somewhat predictable and the happily ever after ending reminded me that this is indeed a children's book.