Moldy Childhood Photos

When mold reaches a childhood photo, the result is fuzzy grey or white patches, brown foxing spots and a musty smell that comes with the print. The cause is nearly always years in a humid attic, a cardboard box on a concrete floor or a plastic sleeve that trapped moisture, and childhood photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the moldy childhood photo as a repair job: it removes the mold and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping the toys, the clothing and the expression as photographed. Faces of you or your parents as children, in the yard, at the table or on a bike that were lost to the mold are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

For moldy childhood photos the order is mold first, faces second, upscale last, each step taking the previous result. Standard suits a childhood photo for a screen; Pro or Max gives a moldy print more detail for reprinting.