The restoration and colourisation of historical photos has the power to bring lost memories into the present day.
Derry man Alex Duffy has been developing his passion of photo restoration to honour the county's rich history. He said: " I have been colourising and restoring old photos for the past 15 years.
"About 10 years ago I came across a tin full of old photo's belonging to my late mother. The tin contained black and white photos from the early 1940s right up to later years in the 1960s.
"I set to work restoring these photos at first as some of them were damaged. Later I started to work on colourisation of the photos, which is a more complex, painstaking slow and precise process as I hand colour them, I do not use apps to do it for me."
During lockdown Alex used his time to focus on building his portfolio of colourised and restored photographs. He added: "I t was not until the first lockdown I found myself, like everyone else, stuck at home with lots more free time.
"I then launched Reminiscence Photo Restoration Co to offer a photo restoration service."
"I started restoring old World War Two photos which led me to pictures of the May 1945 U-Boat surrender at Lisahally.
"Then more recently I completed an 'Old Derry' series which is still ongoing. Within that I want to honour the Factory Girls of Derry, my mother being one of them."
Alex hopes that bringing these photos to life through restoration and colourisation will allow collaboration with Derry museums, building on the photos restored from the Bigger and McDonald collection courtesy of NI Libraries.
For the future, Alex hopes that he can expand his work on the photos of Derry's Factory Girls. He said, "I am now seeking photos of the Factory Girls and hope to work with the ladies that run the fantastic Friends of The Factories project and the Tower museum.
"We are in talks about enhancing this project with an exhibition if all goes to plan. It is a really exciting development."
Anyone who may have old Factory Girls photos who would be interested in getting them restored or colourised can contact Alex via his website or email address.
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