Retrochrome

Retrochrome is a new and exciting process that brings vivid life to forgotten treasures in discarded slide carousels and abandoned film reels. In 1993 I started collecting old home movies and slides from flea markets, antique shops, junk stores and estate sales. It’s a fun way to look at history. Not from the eyes of historians or photojournalists, but from the cameras of the average Joe and Josephine. Sure there’s a lot of family photos and awkward group shots of people who hadn’t planned on being in front of a camera that day, but occasionally you get to see a place you’ve never seen or something you’ve never witnessed, or maybe just laugh  your head off at some of the horrible fashion decisions we have made. It’s also a research assignment, but only on a whim. When I see the images I collect it generally sends me down a research trail to find out just what the heck I’m looking at. And with the power of the internet, I can come pretty close to finding out what it is. Most people think it’s weird digging through people’s old vacation slides and it is. But if you let the weird stop you, you’ll miss out on some great stories that have either been forgotten or discarded.