SIUSLAW NEWS
ARCHIVES from page 1
James was hired for his abil-
ity to quickly learn and adapt,
and he put those skills into
how to digitize the photo-
graphs. He started with using
a video camera, held above the
photograph, taking images of
individual portions of the pic-
ture and putting them together
in the system.
“It took time and didn’t look
very good,” James said.
From there he moved to
digital cameras, and fi nally
onto big scanners. He is also
the archivist of the group.
“We get a lot of calls from
magazines or researchers,
asking if we have ‘this person
from this year,’” Shawn, Th e
Archives offi ce manager, said.
“He’s who you go to. He knows
the collection. His eyes have
seen every single picture Mil-
ton took.”
Th row out a name and James
will be able to pinpoint if the pho-
tograph exists. Are there any pho-
tographs of 1950’s fi lm noir star
Alan Ladd?
“No,” James said. “But Cheryl
Ladd has some pictures. Th ey’re
in a group of other celebrities, not
by herself.”
It should be noted that James
hasn’t even seen most of the fi lms
these actors are in. He knows the
names, but many times not the
context. Th is helps distance him-
self from the “wow” factor that
many other archivists could get
caught up in. Th ey’re simply pho-
tos that need to be printed well.
“I watched Cannonball Run
and came to learn there’s famous
people in that movie,” he said.
Welles laughed at that, saying,
“Th ere’s even famous people in
Cannonball Run 2.”
Welles has family roots in Flor-
ence, when his parents moved to
| BUSINESS QUARTERLY | SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2018 3
there. But in our case, we’re ac-
tually going back and restoring
what was once there.”
Aft er Welles and Jones fi n-
ish their initial “rough draft ” of
the restoration, they bring it to
Greene, who reviews the col-
oring and quality, then gives
it back to the two to change.
A back and forth commences
until the photograph is pitch
perfect.
It’s then sent to James for
printing.
“He has a more critical eye
to see how those results are
translated,” Greene said. “How
my color and my layers of
color work. Or how my edg-
es are working and what the
grain looks like. Do I need to
go back and do diff erent diff u-
sion? Whatever I’m doing, he’s
double-checking all of us.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ARCHIVES’ MILTON H. GREENE COLLECTION
Once it’s set, the print is
It takes a whole team at The Archives to restore Milton H. Greene’s Marilyn Monroe photos to their former glory.
sent out. Th at’s where Shawn
the area in 1986. He had been the there are 400,000 pictures up- decided we were going to sell ev-
Jones has since ditched the big comes in. He takes care of the lit-
erything we owned and move to glasses and gone digital, an evolu- erary and general business of Th e
tech support manager for Kinko’s loaded into the system.
“It tracks all of our products,” Ecuador. So we literally sold ev- tion in technique that some have Archive.
for a number of years.
“I started with Josh in 2000,”
“I’m much more of a comput- Greene said. “All our prints. Ev- erything down to the fl oorboard. criticized, particularly when it
er geek than a photographer, al- erything. You can track the image We had everything down to four comes to celebrity photography. Shawn said. “Actually, this is my
though I’ve always enjoyed pho- and all the information related to backpacks. We decided to come A famous Rolling Stone picture second stint with him. My fi rst
the image. He custom designed to Florence before we made the of singer Katy Perry had her stint here, I started off doing res-
tography,” he said.
Th at enjoyment of photog- all the fi elds for us to capture that break. And then my wife bought skin smoothed over, her thighs toration and printing. Just what-
a house. I’ve been here ever since.” thinned, her hand modifi ed and ever Joshua needed. But mostly
raphy is what led him to meet information.”
Welles also designed websites
Having worked with image res- several moles removed. “Photo- Photoshop and printing.”
Greene.
But his real love was writing. At
“I fi rst came to him as a client for Th e Archives, but these days toration for a number of years, shopping” someone is a deroga-
one time, he reported on sports
for a huge panorama of Old Town he’s cleaning up the pictures Jones has an intimate knowledge tory term.
of how time can ravage a photo-
which I had taken 13 years ago,” themselves through Photoshop.
“People make those comments and features for the Siuslaw News,
He does this by creating hun- graph.
Welles said. “Th at’s actually nine
about Photoshopping and image before he became the assistant to
“Over the years, pictures get too much,” Jones said. “What peo- the City Manager.
diff erent images that were man- dreds of “masks” on the photo-
“I was getting burned out on
ually put together in Photoshop. graph. A mask is akin to a jigsaw mildew spots or grains of hair or ple don’t realize is that every pho-
Th e camera didn’t have a panora- puzzle piece. Th e piece may have dust that actually get embedded tographer who knows anything government work,” Shawn said.
a picture of an eyelash. Another in the emulsion of the fi lm, or on has spent time in the darkroom. “Josh needed some organiza-
ma button as it does now.”
Th e photograph is displayed at piece would be an eyebrow. In- the surface. And no matter how I spend hours getting the picture tional help here, and asked me to
the Siuslaw Public Library now. terlock 100 other pieces, and you clean the scan can be, there’s al- with the lighting the way I want it, come over and manage the busi-
have the face of Marilyn Monroe. ways going to be some elements then I get into the darkroom and ness side. I make sure bills are be-
Th e work impressed Greene.
Welles breaks the Monroe pic- that need to be cleaned up. White say, ‘Yuck. Th at’s fl at, that’s not at ing paid and prints are going out.”
“I swept him up as fast as I
ture into masks so he can manip- dots, we need to make them all what I saw.’ And then I’ll put a
Shawn does get to stretch his
could get him,” he said.
Welles’ primary job was to ulate each piece without changing black. Th ey’ll be a beautiful color fi lter or dodge and burn some ar- creative skills along the way — he
image, but there’ll be a hairline eas. We’re not doing anything that wrote the text in “Th e Essential
build the complex databases that the whole puzzle.
“So, you can change the image through it. We have to repair that photographers haven’t done for a Marilyn.”
would house all the images James
But it’s the business side of
entered into the system. All told, of the iris without changing the and make it seamless.”
hundred years. It’s just the tools
white of the eye,” he said. “A lot
When he started restoring pic- we have to deal with are diff erent.” things traversed by Shawn that
of this is really tedious. I mean, tures years ago, he would do it
But that kind of artistic manip- takes an entirely diff erent creative
there’s tiny bits of dust. You look manually, retouching them with ulation is not what Th e Archive’s skill.
at something at literally a pixel a brush and “wearing big funky is doing. Welles believes that it’s
Th e skill is dealing with the
level. And going through each glasses.”
absolutely true that people use myriad of changes the industry
pixel takes a lot of concentration
One of the most interest- digital imaging too much, as in is going through. Internet piracy,
and focus. It can be very tiring to ing things he saw was how the the case of Katy Perry.
international export issues and
do. It has to be done with exact- techniques for retouching had
“But in this case, because the the 2008 fi nancial crash are just
ing detail. It’s a great intellectual changed over the years, and how photo is so deteriorated so much, some of the bureaucratic issues
challenge.”
he could see that progression in you can no longer see the original Shawn faces.
Welles isn’t the only restoration the photographs.
And then there’s the more phil-
fi lm,” he said. “Because of Photo-
technician at Th e Archives. Since
“Every time I work on an im- shop, we’re able to recreate some- osophical questions. What is the
last year, Stephen Jones has been age, I fi nd evidence of someone thing into what it once was, in- audience for high-end prints in
restoring images as well.
who has actually gone in and at- stead of creating it into something the age of social media? How will
“My wife and I had a docu- tempted the dot method,” Jones we think it should be. Which is a people view them? Will the world
mentary photography business said. “You’re looking at the his- big diff erence from how people of prints become obsolete?
for many years,” he said as to tory of retouching it while you’re are critical of Photoshop, which
In next week’s issue of the Siu-
how he came to Florence. “We using these modern techniques.” is your changing something you slaw News, Th e Archives crew
shot into something that’s not delves into these questions.
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