US Army Private

I want to break away from the Quickshot photos to present a special project I’m working on. This is a military portrait of my father, Emilio Ramirez Espinosa, Jr., taken when he was in the US Army.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the standard photo taken of all service members during the latter part of their basic training. I recall him telling me that he was wearing his working fatigues under the jacket, shirt, and tie. This would have made him the rank of Private and the year 1962 as he was 17 when he enlisted (with a special permission written for him by my grandparents).

I do not have the original photo in my possession. The original is badly damaged and the only copy I have is a photographic copy (made by taking a photo of the original photo) that I scanned and have presented here on the left. On the right, quite clearly, is the current state of the restoration that I have done in Photoshop. While some of the damage is still discernible in the restoration and the levels are a bit too heavy on the blacks, the current state is by far a great improvement over the print that is currently the only copy of this image in my hands. I plan to continue working on this image until I am satisfied with it, but this is the first time that I have felt that I have a copy worthy of sharing. My goal is to restore the print substantially so that it can be printed on proper photographic paper at a print lab and then to frame it to present it to my mother.