I'm Not Kidding! Yet.

 Proof that I'm serious about being back. Here's another old oldie:  

Girl In The Treetops.

Another LuminarAI edit from a 40+ year old negative scan.

Hey Out There! Wake Up! I'm Back! Maybe.

 Has it really been ten years since my last post? Holy shit. New editing tools like LuminarAI, PicMonkey, the DxO Nik suite tells me it's time to revisit those old home-made porn  boudoir images for another go-round. Here's one, edited with Luminar AI (find it here: https://skylum.grsm.io/danielgauss3379 )

And Normal Headlights

Buick Skylark convertible

Scan of 127 "superslide".

100% Pure Aryan Goodness

I don't know that for a fact, but she was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, with a German surname. Close enough.
I could regale you with amazing stories of things that went on in her mother's kitchen while her mother slept less than 20 feet away, but that would just leave you frustrated... use your imagination.

A pretty straight hand-colored image from scan of a black and white 35mm negative. Added "soft focus" filter in Picnik, then un-softened eyes and lips.

Oh! And because Mother's Day is coming up: the tattoo!

She Walks Away.

..and no matter how much you want her to, she won't turn back.

This is another of those "this and that" processes, most of which I can't even remember.. try this? Nah. Try that? Yeah, that works. Let's add something else. Original color print. Some Photoshop Elements, some ACDSee Pro.

Hey!, you wonder, is that Margaret? Why yes.. yes it is.

The Twins

Your pride is showing.

Suzie V.

Other than the lighting, and softening of the focus, this one is virtually untouched, because why would I mess with it when I nailed it?      :D

Climb It.

Once the "Dune Flyer" has descended the dune, they have to make the less graceful ascent.

When I created the original Dune Flyer image, linked above, my "painting" skills in the Picnik editor weren't as finally honed as they are now.  For instance, I didn't know then how to create subtler color tones, which is why the model here, a former college classmate,  is no longer a bottle blonde, but has hair  much more her natural color.

Coldstone Creamery.

It's OK. It was a _________________ cemetery. (Insert a religion you love to hate. Easy one for me.)

Haven't posted a picture of the fabulous Margaret recently, and this one hides a secret I won't tell. See previous.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Just a quick "oil painting" conversion of a mirror self-portrait from either very late 1969 or January of 1970.  My very first 35mm camera, a Yashica TL Electro, purchased at the DaNang PX just prior to coming home. Eventually, I would learn to hold the camera properly.

Leave Them Be?

Some of the images I’ve run through the flatbed scanner are complete works in and of themselves.  They’re enlargements from actual photo shoots where I was attempting to be serious, rather than 1) sneaky, or 2) prurient.  They would require very little in the way modification to get posted here, except…  they were printed on really obnoxious silk-like texture paper, and the texture shows up in the scans.
In this particular case, I used the smudge stick filter in Photoshop Elements 5.0 to cover the silk texture, and added a border in ACDSee Pro.  The image was also obviously cropped, and inverted from the original.  The result is a more hand-drawn appearance to the image, without going overboard.

Here are a couple more images that have pretty much been left alone.  The interesting part here, is that these are scanned from 120 film square negatives… in a 35mm film scanner.  It was tricky, but I got it to work.  The image on the left, was a candid taken of customers at the counter of the camera store I managed in the Seventies.  I cropped out the surly boyfriend, (you don’t want to see the original!), and  used the Sepia tool in Picasa.  That’s the extent of the changes.  I was amazed how the feel of the picture changed with just that little bit of modification!
The image on the right is of one of my oldest friends, (although I haven’t seen her in more than 10 years).. we’ll call her Suzie.  She wanted a portrait for her husband at the time, and I was happy to oblige, being a perpetually  broke college student at the time.  I borrowed a friend’s apartment, gave Suzie my suede “hippie” hat and got to work.  This is also a scan from a 120 black and white negative that I somehow shoved into the 35mm scanner.   It was also given the sepia treatment, along with the soft focus tool.
There you have it. Not all old images have to be turned into weird and wacky abstract works.  Sometimes they’re just fine the way they are. 

Appreciative Booty-philes.

It's a nice one, at that.

Original black and white from a public modeling shoot put on by a Detroit area model agency, and a local camera store. Early 35mm work with the trusty Yashica TL SLR purchased in Vietnam. It still worked, while the 3 custom-tailored Hong Kong suits were already outgrown and on the way to the Kiwanis sale..

Promenade.

Some time in the Seventies. Somewhere on the Cape. On a honeymoon. Wedding followed some 5 months later.

From original (washed out) color slide.

Memphis Belle.

It's time for another image of the love of my life. Yet another medium is represented here, as this is a Polaroid black and white original.. (in fact, the sharp-eyed will see the box and some other prints! I've had this image since it's capture and I just noticed it today while zoomed in for the hand tinting!)

The picture was taken at a park somewhere in the Memphis, TN area when the young Margaret came to visit a lonely sailor. And dumped him.

At least it wasn't via a "Dear John", and of course, things eventually worked out just fine.

Rippled water effect from ACDSee Pro, hand tinting and "60's" color with rounded corners and frame from Picnik.

Analog Kenmore.

Here’s another “oil” from the tropics, c. 1969.  Drying socks.  We would soon learn from the old-timers that it was healthier to discard the socks altogether, as well as the boxers;  less surface area to “grow stuff”. 

United States Marines

Boogieing out..

Something completely different.. a scanned 126 Instamatic 3.5 x 3.5 inch print.  From my vacation in the tropics, 1969.  Converted to “oil painting”.

Naughty Miss A_____.

Something different.  A Polaroid instant print from the mid-70’s.  If this was still the era when a boss could still chase his secretary around the desk… this would be that secretary.

ACDSee Oil paint effect, and some basic color and exposure editing.

I Like Beer! It Makes Me A Jolly Good Fellow..

Several of my mother's uncles worked at the Sebewaing Brewery. Not long after I went to work at a camera store in Saginaw, Michigan, a co-worker and I took a little photo trip to Sebewaing. This is one of the many images from that trip. From the original black and white negative.

Illustrated is the straight tinting process using Picnik. Click on image to biggify.

Weatherball Red, Warmer Ahead..

Weatherball red, warmer ahead.
Weatherball blue, cooler in view.
Weatherball green, no change foreseen.
Colors blinking bright, rain or snow in sight.

Downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan c.1974. The Michigan National Weatherball is upper left.

Just to show that they're not all going to be scantily clad humans... (just most).