Liz I honestly didnt think that it would have been possible to do that. You've achieved the impossible.
I just cant find the words that would praise you enough!
Just wait till Dave sees this!!!!!!
Emmy

(ps Are you any good at doing this on photographs taken today?- you built up that face so well that I think I'll get a new one taken of me then rub the face out and get you to give me a new face OK? - younger version if possible:)

Great Job, Liz as usual.

Perhaps you would like to share the picture of you in your Wonder Woman costume? If not, I can always do it......

Liz,

This is better than I could have imagined. Didn't think it could be repaired, and I like the way you borrowed hair. Can you do that with real people? I thank you on behalf of all our relatives.

I had a free copy of PhotoShop Home Version that was in a book...I was intrigued by the "Heal" tool. Maybe I should check out Paint Shop Pro.

The descendants of Stefano did not have any pictures of their grandfather until my cousin Stan found this picture (and many more) in the attic. His mother says Stefano is on the right, but as I could not see the gent on the left, I wasn't sure. I notice that several are wearing similar coats and some have buttons on their lapels. Wish I could read them. Grandpa came in 1903 but did not show up in Auburn until 1905, according to the Auburn City Directory. Sefano came a few years later; I'll have to check that. There is a Prof. Stefano Bissi and a Francesca Bissi in Siculiana in the phone listings and I want to write them.

I scanned a booklet for the 1947 Columbus Day Festival that my Uncle Sam Bissi found. One of the organizations is the Crociffosso di Siculiana and there is a church by that name in Siculiana, so perhaps the photo is of them. Don't have that page after all: ran out of space on thumbdrive, so next time.

I will show everyone your work.

Thanks again, I owe you a ton

Dave

Dave, you are very welcome



*whaps Nuccia!*



Liz

RaicesOnline

Liz,

I showed your repaired photo to my mother and she was very impressed. I'm going to send it to the cousins next. Comparing it to the original, I see how many scratches and marks are also fixed when I magnify both.

Wish I knew who the others are. Some look like people I know here and I've given them copies. The one with the mustache looks just like Mike Valenti, as he has a mustache just like that one. The man sitting next to my grandfather might be Gaetano Contigulia, whose son was our family lawyer and signed the Draft Registration Card for my grandpa Ferro. The grandsons are lawyers too, one a judge. I left copies of the photo with their office. They weren't sure either. I have copies of a page with a small photo of Gaetano and writing saying his name and that he was from Tortirici, Messina, Sicily. This was among the papers Stan found in the basement toolbox. Gaetano and my grandfather were paesani, according to my mom.

The best and most beautiful wedding picture I have seen is the one Cathy posted. Very elegant and the colors are so warm.

Here's one that my Aunt Carrie Wawro was in. She's seated second from right. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the entire frame in the scanner.



I have another picture of the Firth Carpet Finishing Department at Christmas 1948 with her and my Aunt Francie among the group. Someone (probably her) circled her face with red marker and I've been trying to remove it. Next time.

Also here is my Great-Aunt Mary Concetta Testa (married late to Frank Nervina) with my Uncle Charlie Bissi.



Dave

Dave

More amazing pictures. Maybe you can post your picture here and Liz can have a look at it. She may be able to fix it. I would try but I have found I'm rally bad at repairing or creating anything that involves photos..now I just drive Liz crazy to do it insteas.

I hear she's going to start charging me big bucks soon..I better save those pennies just in case.

Need to go to bed. Work comes early and I want to try and get up early enough tomorrow to check the forum. Its been a fairly long day already....

Nuccia,

I really appreciate Liz's talent in making photos whole and I hope she will be able to fix some other ones I have.

However, most of all, I want to show these and see others' family photos. Some are similar to ours and others surprising in how different from our family's. I love photography, especially old pics.

Every time I look through collections, I wonder about the people: what were they like, what happened to them in later life, and what's that in the window or on the menu. So much to discover. Films also get examined for clues that the director might have put in.

Another book I like at the library is a volume of Nadar's portraits; many of the famous are there, like Sarah Bernhardt, Jules Verne (just like I imagined), Baudelaire, Manet, and so many more. Of course when we lived in Rochester we were at the Eastman House alot.



This is the wedding of Aunt Carrie Bissi and Uncle Joe Wawro Dec. 31, 1941 on the steps of St. Francis d'Assisi Church (which celebrared 100 years last month). My mother Josie is holding her sister's dress; I think she has a mischievous look on her face. She was married that November.
Above them, Aunt Ida Nervina Impaglia is the bridesmaid, John Wawro Best Man, then from left, Granpa Bissi, Granma Bissi, Granma Nervina, in white hat Aunt Francie...all smiling.

Uncle Pete says he got his tongue stuck on that railing one winter. (It was a dare).

Have a good sleep and tuck in the kids. Or you did that already. Where is Liz's picture of Wonder Woman and what's all this whapping?

Dave

I think Liz will kill me if I actually posted the picture of her in her Wonder Woman costume. She wore it for Halloween one year.

Liz whaps everyone. I guess its her trademark now. Not sure why she does it, but she does and now its just become a big joke.

We'll need to ask her about it sometime..

If you ask her you'll get whapped! I asked her once and she whapped me!

Dave, the wedding picture on the steps is beautiful!! I really really like that one.

Glad you liked the wedding photo, Gina. We have a few more on those steps of aunts and uncles and both my birth and adoptive parents. That is the old church, built in 1908 and still in use as a daycare. My grammar school is attached to it. I'll have to scan some photos to post.

The new church is across the street, built in 1958, next to the rectory. In the parking lot, we have the annual bazaar August 18. This year lots of food and games, some music under big tents. When I was growing up it was booths that the men made, easily unbolted because they also used them for St. Rocco festival. Same guys working it too. Somehow they got a ferris wheel in there too.

I thought the 'whapping' was a smilie that didn't show. Didn't Liz say she might put the Wonder Woman photo up?

Oh well, here's a photo of our cousin Chiara Testa on her First Communion. After she married, she moved to Termoli.

Dave

Wow Dave, I must say, you have lots of great pictures. You are so lucky. I love them all!
*whaps Liz*

Cathy and all the good people here,

It is a pleasure to post the photos and to see everyones also. The one you posted is the most beautiful I've seen and of your nona and aunts too. I showed my mother and she aahh'd.

Did you notice in the photo of Chiarina the arm of someone holding the curtain straight? Oh well.

Art Deco always seemed so modern when I was growing up, even though I did not know it was called that. Did not know it was from the teens and twenties either. Dadaism and Surrealism too.


This is a composite of photos...Chiarina strikes a pose and Sully is dapper. Looks like a different background. Great grandparents Salvatore and Chiara Testa and sons Joe, Elio and Pietro. One of my cousins said "They look like Indians!" Well they worked out in the garden, Chrissy. Salvatore was a tailor and Chiara a seamtress, but in two other pics from 1917 and 1919, they seem to be wearing the same clothes.

Dave



Also a pic of my mom's and Aunt Francie's First Communion. Aunt Francie was a few years older. My mom says her mother made the dress for her and Aunt Francie's was bought, but we don't know from whom.