about michael A. Samples

To hold you over until I get further projects ready here is a video of Kinkaid Spillway, a once upon a time a favorite hang-out for many a folk. A really nice place to - just be.

At he end of 2005, the company I worked for sold off its assets sending many jobs across US borders. This qualified me for a national retooling program. I enrolled in John A. Logan College, where I graduated in May 2008 with Associates' degrees in both Marketing and Graphic Design.

The skill sets learned in the Graphic Design program enable me to perform photo restoration services. I have the ability to create a variety of photo enhancements that add energy and excitement to ordinary photos.

I can alter and enhance photographic images in a wide variety of ways. Unwanted objects can be removed, backgrounds can be changed and people can be highlighted. 

Now to try to tie this all together and catch us up to now.

Removal of shadows and contrast adjustments made.

After I got out of the Army, I moved to Florida. I got married in 1985 and started my own family...  My grandparents and parents have been gone for quite some time now. Fortunately, one of my aunts received the majority of the collection intact. She has taken the time to take them out of the box and has placed them in albums with acid free paper and acid free plastic covers. The acid attacks the fibers and solutions in the photos, damaging them.

The crucial role that this facility has played in my life may be an understatement. Not only my health care but my brother also used their services and we spent many a night in the ER getting him back into balance. In 2020, I was diagnosed with a bad case of bladder cancer. The care I received here and at several other hospitals, was exceptional. Unfortunately, I lost the fight to keep my bladder, and I lost the prostrate as well and if that was not enough I now ride the edge of having dialysis and now I live with stage 5 kidney failure riding my heels but I am now getting onto nine months cancer free and adjusting to my new normal. 

Now to get back to taking some pictures. I am planning on a number of projects to get back into the click of things, looking forward to sharing my adventures with you.  

Colorization of B/W photo.

An example of a color correction and clean up with some minor damage corrections from the original.  The example on the right is of a Picture Ledge display from Zazzle.

​​​A video of the October 2011 Thresherman show in Pinkneyville, Illinois

 Welcome

I have been taking pictures since the age of 13 or 14. I received a basic point and shoot camera with a offset view finder. At 18, I bought my first 35mm SLR camera (PentaxK1000). After joining the US Army in 1977. I decided I wanted to work for the National Geographic Magazine when I finished my service.

While in the Army, I dabbled in developing my own B/W film and doing my own darkroom work. I loved watching the exposed paper giving up its latent images in the chemical baths under the dim red-lights of the darkroom. I exposed at least a few dozen rolls of film during those years. I spent many hours arranging and rearranging pictures in photo albums along with captions explaining the images or the situation at hand.

Unfortunately, the majority of my early photos were destroyed in a fire - they were stored in the family's shed while I was away studying camera repair in Denver, CO, after being honorably discharged from the military in 1981. Regretfully, I never completed the full course - my mothers' failing health called me back home to southern Illinois.

Various events  attended.

An example of a photo enhancement. Removal of a hazy day. If only it was that easy.

After restoring numerous photos of my own and for family members, I decided to offer my services to the general public.  I have been building my business and my brand for the last several years.  In 2018, Image Wizard Photo Restoration made it's debut on the web.

IWPR is still expanding, offering more options for your photos after restoration.  Through the PODs we can offer a wide variety of products on which to display your images. Check out the selections available across all of our PODs. You'll find everything from matted and framed art prints to cups and even socks.​

Hello! My passion for photography and old pictures began a long time ago, when I found my grandparents' box of family photos. I still remember the occasion. While retrieving grandma's homemade blankets to make a pallet on the floor for a night's stay at my grandparents' house, I found their photo collection. I was full of questions and wonder, as we explored the history of my family. My mother and grandparents were more than happy to go through the hundreds of photos and explain who was who and how everyone was related. We spent the rest of the evening looking through the pictures and asking who everyone was. Some of the pictures dated back to the early 1900's and even into the mid 1800's.  ​

Years later, when home on leave from the US Army, after I completed Boot Camp and schooling, we all sat down and reviewed the stories again. However, by then, memories and time had started to fade for my grandparents. This caused real sadness for us. This time, as we went through the names, I wrote down the information on the backs of the images when my grandmother had not already done so.

Various examples of removing haze and mix matching picture elements.

This is my wife Sandy and me in our "baby pictures".

How did I get here? Or why do I do this?

Yes, I am in this group.

One of these days/years I may want to tackle this one and see what can be done.

Thank you Mike, for letting me make a copy of this.