Even though I have a long backlog of our own photos to go through, I’ve also been working on scanning old family photo albums from both the Flack and Wong sides of the family. The most recent batch covers my family from Christmas 1976 to Spring 1982.

I remember these pictures living in a large, red, leather-bound album filled with heavy, black pages. Each photo was individually mounted with black corners, allowing complete freedom over their placement. At some point in the last several decades, my mother moved them to a more modern album with fixed plastic sleeves. That change, combined with the fact that some of the photos are nearly 50 years old—old enough that my brother has no recollection them being taken—made the process a little surreal, as though my distant memories had been transported to a slightly different context from the one I remember. They’re at once familiar and different from my memories. I found it surprising how much a simple change in presentation was able to affect the feelings engendered by these images.

The photos themselves were a blast to look through. They cover a range of birthdays, holidays, and family gatherings from the time I was four through the year I turned ten. A lot changed over that interval: we moved from Wheaton to Elk Grove Village; fashion transitioned from definitively 70s to stereotypically 80s; and new cousins and spouses came on the scene. Also, I was cuter than I remember being.

I particularly enjoyed seeing from pictures from the Chicago blizzard of 1979, which in my memory was tremendously exciting and fun (I’m quite certain my parents felt otherwise). That year made all the winters that followed feel just a bit underwhelming.

Because these scans were taken from decades-old prints, their quality straight off the scanner was highly variable. Some photos showed dramatic color shifts, and others had faded significantly, reducing the richness and depth of the colors. I’ve done my best to freshen them up by improving contrast and saturation and attempting to eliminate unnatural color casts. But I’m a novice, and the results were not always perfect. I suspect I will revisit some of my editing choices over the years to come.

Gallery: Christmas 1976 – Spring 1982