Esther and Howard Present: Chromalife

In early 2022, my Aunt and Cousin began digitizing my Grandfather’s old family film reels. He passed away in 2019 at the ripe old age of 92. Unfortunately, he suffered from Alzheimer’s toward the end and I did not get a chance to say a proper goodbye as I had relocated to Oregon from my home state of Indiana. I was amazed when I saw the footage. I was struck by the modernity of it. Yes, the clothes and the cars are evocative of the time period in which this footage was shot, mid-1950’s onward, but the color -- the color is so lush and bright. Conversely, the only photographs that exist of my grandparents during this time are black and white. For this project, I used footage of their travels before they had children -- their honeymoon period if you like. They would be about the same age as myself during this time and their love for one another is palpable. I went through the footage frame by frame and using my eye for composition I selected particularly interesting shots and then edited and juxtaposed those stills together using nothing but the resizing and crop tools in Photoshop in order to create new photographic works. A collaboration of sorts and a way to have one last interaction with a man who meant -- means so much to me.