Grand Canyon

I was going through my olf photos today and stopped at a folder of snapshots that I had scanned a cople of years ago. They were from a vacation I took with my grandparents in 1976 from Texas to Oregon. It was a whirlwind trip with fond memories. The snap shots had been placed in a cheap photo album and they were stuck to the pages. They had faded. I did some mild adjustments to them when I posted about the album on Throw back Thursday. Way Back. I decided to try to do something with a couple in Topaz.

The first is a snapshot of one of the look outs at the Grand Canyon. It was hazy and faded.

Unedited:

Edited using Topaz Studio. Better.

Next is one of my favorites that was damaged the most from age and poor storage. It was a bear on a bridge. I recently found out that is was one of the bears on the Kalmath River Bridge in Kalmath, California. (Click the link to read about how the bears turned gold. Cute story)

Unedited: Sad bear.

Edited with Topaz studio – I went for more of an abstract effect. In the other post, I left the snapshots, looking like old snapshots, just a little cleaned up. Here I used a effect called Evening Shadow, removed the vignette and added a dual color tone called Golden Age.

I grew up with my grandparents. They were wonderful people. We would take vacations that were quick trips from point A to point B in the most expedient way possible. I never knew it was because money was tight. It always felt like an adventure with bottled soda, peanuts, summer sausage, cheese and crackers. We would make touristy stops along the way to take touristy photos. It was fun and I loved it. I also appreciate it more now than I did when I was fifteen years old. I miss them very much. This is why I love captured moments. Nothing artistic or special about these snapshots except for the people in them and the memories they hold. These are from a trip to Oregon with my grandparents in 1976.