Restoremypast

Jeremy D'Arts

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I am the creator of Restoremypast, and is something that came to me one night following my long term recovery from a serious motorcycle accident. Prior to the accident I spent 15 years in the world of advertising as a senior designer, focused mainly on digital media and acting as a bridge between technical & creative.

Advertising is fast moving and playing catch up was pressure I didn't need at the time.

So rather than dwell on my past, I used the long recovery time to refocus more on the creative and design side. So I was doing what I wanted to do in my own time.

The idea of Restoremypast came after I was asked to scan some negatives for a family tree. I found the whole process a rewarding sense of discovery, revealing stuff that had never been seen, either by that family or the generation before.

So here I am sort of restored myself now, though not fully 100% I'm back riding motorcycles, while on a new road career wise.

The main purpose of Restoremypast as you may gather is restoration. The type of restoration work carried out is non-destructive to the original and is only a digital restoration. I can do old pictures, photos, negatives, VHS video or indeed anything that can be scanned or captured.

The process starts by taking your scan, where I then, carefully start bringing back areas of the image on the threshold of disappearing or what maybe have been damaged. I can also to a certain degree bring back what is missing.

Now a simple fact is, you cannot bring back something that is physically not there. For example a completely missing face is just not possible to restore. But if facial features are missing and there is enough visible data available, then that face can be restored to a very close likeness to the original.

So if you have something that you value, be it a photo, document or video and feel it needs preserving, then please contact me for more information and advice on reaching that goal.

Being a digital restoration service doesn’t mean I am limited to just restoration. Working in advertising for 15 years as a designer means you acquire a wide range of creative skills and techniques used to overcome many of the challenges found in the world of advertising.

If you are in need of any design work, be it website, brochure, leaflet or business card, then please contact me to see how I can help with your requirements. You may just want a birthday card for someone special or some animation added to your design bringing it to life. Being creative means the bounds are endless, only limited by imagination.

Now if you really want to immerse yourself, I can do a nice 360 interactive panoramic, immersed with the ambient sounds of the scene. With our forever changing environment these panoramas will act as great time capsules for when looking back, to what once was.

PRICE GUIDE:
Single scan - £2.50
Slide scan mounted - £0.35 each
Negative individual scan - £1.00
Negative 35mm strip of 6 - £5.00
Basic clean - £5.00 each image (Removal of dirt spots)

Prices for restoration & print are based on per image.
Restoration low - £10.00 (Contrast & colour corrections)
Restoration med - £25.00 (Minor damage repair - scratches or staining)
Restoration high - £50.00+(Major damage repair - missing areas, large facial features)

Print A4 - £5.00
Print A3 - £10.00
Print A3+ - £15.00

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VIDEO CONVERSION
Conversion costs are based on video tapes of up to 2 hours with additional cost for each additional hour. The tapes are checked and edited. Where possible unwanted tape interference removed and replaced with a clean transition. The DVD’s come with a base menu and are chapter marked for quick access and supplied in a case. If preferred I can supply the videos on a memory stick in an MP4 format.

Conversion to DVD:
£17.50 with a reduction for 5 tapes or more.
£15.00 per tape for 5 tapes or more
£6.00 for each additional hour
Covered Formats: VHS : VHS-C : Video 8 : Hi8 : Digital8 : MiniDV : HDV

AUDIO CONVERSION
Audio conversion of old cassette tapes are done on a per tape basis. They are checked and edited. Where possible removal of any unwanted noise to bring out the best possible sound. If there are several audio clips on one cassette, these will be set out as tracks for ease of access.

Audio Cassette conversion to CD £10

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Non-restoration work & DVD archiving - £25 per hour
Design & Creative work £35 per hour or a Daily Rate @£250

Please note: Restoration work can vary to personal needs and so pricing may vary depending on those requirements. For example will the restored image be used for print or digital output only. A print image will require a higher level restoration if being enlarged. Please contact me for more information.

Payment for restoration work is only made on your approval of the work carried out. Postage & Packing not included in the price.

Welcome to my gallery, it contains a brief description on a small selection of my recent work, including animation and interactive design. There are some more interesting projects relating to the past currently in the pipeline, and these will be added soon.

Tenterden Museum

The museum has recently had a new interactive display unit installed, giving digital access to many hundreds of historical artifacts. My role was to photograph a range of exhibits for this display, which also included some large scale maps that needed to be digitised.

Winchester Cathedral

The Rolls of Honour which are held by the cathedral have recently been digitised. My role was to take these assets and then create a digital version of the rolls, allowing visitors to the cathedral greater access in seeing the names of those lost during the First World War.

Tenterden Town Council

The town council has in it possession an unusual collection of items from its past, some are recognisable, some not. so In collaboration with the museum it was decided these could be added to the digital archive. My role was to photograph these items for the record.

St.Barbe Museum

The museum has just gone through a major refurbishment to enlarge its galleries. It now has a purpose built archive for local history. My role was to create a video sequence showing the pictorial history of the former Wellworthy piston factory in Lymington.

Rock Choir

Rock Choir the contemporary choir movement in the UK celebrated their tenth anniversary at the NEC Birmingham. My role in this event was to create the animated version of their logo, which was used during the opening and closing of their anniversary show.

Restoration - Enlargement

Despite age and technology of the time, these old prints can hold amazing amounts of detail. Here I was asked to enlarge this small photo of farm horses. The detail was so good in the original I was able to enlarge it up A3. The image on the right is a 5mm crop of that small photo.

Please contact me if you have any questions or you have some images or documents that conjure up memories of old and feel they are worth preserving. You can also call me on +44(0) 7531 798841 or Email:

Preserving family history for future generations