Nostalgia: Bringing memories of Derry back to life

Strathfoyle man Alex Duffy gives an insight into how he began to bring nostalgia back to old photos through a process of colorisation.

Reminiscence Photo Restoration Co in Derry has been giving people a nostalgic experience to savour and bringing old photos back to life through colorisation.

The man behind the work is Derry man Alex Duffy.

Through his extensive collection of photographs, Alex gives an insight into what life was like a few decades ago.

“I have been involved in content creation for 15 years, editing video, graphic deign and more recently photo restoration”, said Alex.

“My mother passed away in 2006 and she always had an old tin of photos from the early 40s up to the 80s.

BELLA CARLIN AND HER DAUGHTER MOYA, SPRINGTOWN CAMP

“This collection consisted of photos of family at home and in England, most of whom were all gone now.

“I knew my way around photoshop and had always been interested in photo restoration, so I began to restore these photographs and with the knowledge I had of photoshop and the tools within it, I was able to restore them with rewarding results.”

Alex continued: “It wasn't until during the first Covid lockdown, while finding myself working from home and with more free time, that I decided to really get into the profession.

“I started to buy old photos from eBay on social history and World War II. While practicing on these, I was soon able to produce professional results.

BISHOP'S GATE, DERRY (1912)

“I created my brand 'Reminiscence Photo Restoration', which included a social media account, logos and website.

“I launched firstly with my collection of social history photos belonging to my late mother, followed by the WWII collection of photos which I had purchased.

“The WWII collection included photos of the U-Boat surrender at Lisahally and, being a Strathfoyle man myself, this particular collection of photos were of a great interest and a very important part of local history for the area.”

Alex concluded: “I later created a local social history group on Facebook, now called 'Cherished Memories of Derry City', which has currently over 5k members.

BELL OF ST COLUMB'S CATHEDRAL ARRIVING ON DERRY QUAY (1928-29)

“With this set up I got more into social history and old photos of Derry city and the amazing people within it, with some old photos from as far back as the late 1800s.

“Work began on restoring the Bert Hardy Picture Post collection from his visit to Derry in 1955, which included the iconic photos of the factory girls leaving Tilly and Henderson's.

“It was at this point I began to work closely with the Friends of Factory Girls and the Tower Museum on a factory girl photo project.

“Most recently I have been given a fabulous collection of old photos of Derry schools and pupils, dating back to the late 1800s up to 1920s. I have started work on these and some are available on my social media to view.

“Locally, some of my work is on display in the Coffee Stop at the Craft Village.

“Maybe someday I could put on a public display of photo restoration and colourisation.”

To find out more check out Reminiscence Photo Restoration Co - Derry’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/Reminiscencerestore/