— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
Using a combination of old-fashioned know-how and technology, a man from the UK was able to bring 100-year-old negatives to life. Greg Pack of Essex, England was rummaging through items at a car boot sale, looking for old clocks, when he came upon a wood box. The 70-year-old man is a retired graphic artist who used to work in print and quickly spotted some items in the box that caught his eye.
Peering inside, he saw a bunch of glass negatives and was surprised by the good condition they appeared to be in. “I used to work with negatives and these looked quite good,” he told ITV. After paying £4 (about $5) for the box of 18 negatives, he decided to see if he could coax out the images. After an attempt to scan them failed, he used some new technology—an iPhone and Photoshop.
“I held the glass negative to the sky, took a picture with my iPhone then turned it into a positive,” said Pack. And the results were better than he could have hoped. Before his eyes, he saw family photographs—from a little girl in a frilly white dress getting a piggyback ride to what appears to be a young couple posing for a portrait on a lawn with the man dressed in military attire.
Now that he had the photos, Pack's next task is to try and discover more about the mysterious characters in the images. A handwritten list pasted on the lid of the box details a number of locations, some of them in France. Pack is still on the hunt to discover more, with a lot of help from the internet.
Pack's son Scott sent out a series of Tweets detailing his father's discovery, which have quickly gone viral. Now, he's not only speaking to journalists across the UK, but getting help from others to decipher the imagery. Sleuths were quick to point out that, based on how people were dressed, the photos could date between 1903 and 1913.
For Pack, the discovery was an emotional one, and he's hoping to get the images reunited with their family if possible. “I have always loved old photos and I found it very sad that they were being sold for a fiver at a boot sale when they should be with a family as treasured heirlooms,” he said. “I think it's really sad it's not with the family. Honestly, it was emotional when I first saw these people. There they are, a second in their lives more than 100 years ago, and here I am looking at them in 2018.”
Greg Pack came upon a box full of glass negatives at a flea market and was curious enough to bring them home.
My dad was at a boot sale recently and saw this battered old box. He is a fan of boxes, and boxes are made to be opened, so he did what most of us would do and peeked inside. pic.twitter.com/9pg3revsLF
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
This is what he found… pic.twitter.com/N0LGFVYCtg
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
There were a number of plates in various states of disrepair. The bloke wanted a fiver for the box and its contents but my dad haggled him down to £4. pic.twitter.com/45zMf2bVlU
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
He digitally “developed” them using his iPhone and Photoshop.
When he got home he held each plate up to the light and took a photo using his iPhone.
He then used Photoshop to turn each negative image into a positive.
So this… pic.twitter.com/lXtn3Fd1cQ
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
Became this… pic.twitter.com/jO0zEbBQFM
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
And here are the rest… pic.twitter.com/8tawiNMLjb
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
And this is the last one. pic.twitter.com/Yi4XTTGqdV
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
Now the Packs are trying to figure out who could be in the 100-year-old images.
Here is the list that was pasted into the lid of the box. All in English but with some French place names mentioned, we think. Could have been holiday photographs? Presumably a reasonably well-off family if so? Would love to find out more about them. Or even just date them. pic.twitter.com/sQzw4RhHtH
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
If anyone knows of anyone who might be able to help with dating or identification then do please share and spread the word.
Thanks.
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
Thanks to Pack's son Scott, who Tweeted the story, they've received lots of input about the photos.
The uniform definitely appears to be first world war British at first inspection. The leg wrappings and shoulder bandolier are very distinctive.
— Carbine (@CarbineCat) August 21, 2018
Hello, line 5 says “Henri Mabile”, who is a French WWI veteran and a WWII Resistant from the region of Rennes, Britanny. He was decorated by the French the British and the Americans. So I'd say the box itself is more recent than the pictures. Which look WWI-ish to me.
— Owl In The Night (@SaRadicale) August 21, 2018
Looks like late 19th or early 20th century. There was a Henri Auguste Mabille from Le Havre but he was born in 1910. His father's name was Auguste Raoul Mabille and his mother's name was Laure Marie Ternon.
— CJ 💜 Wake Me Up When September Comes (@smkndofpnutdssr) August 21, 2018
And, to his delight, Pack has become a minor celebrity due to the story.
My dad has spent most of the afternoon chatting to journalists about the photos. He briefly spoke to me on his landline to check that it was OK to give journos permission to use the pics then had to dash as another newspaper was calling his mobile. He's loving it.
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
Now we'll just have to stay tuned to see what they discover about the photos.
UPDATE: Dad and I want to thank everyone who has responded with RTs, offers of help, advice, tips and words of encouragement. We are hugely appreciative and are sorry that we cannot reply to every message.
We will post updates when we discover more about the photos.
— Scott Pack (@meandmybigmouth) August 20, 2018
h/t: [Bored Panda]
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