Happy Mother's Day!

AI helps bring moms from the early 1900s to life.

I’ve gone down the AI rabbit hole and have been turning photo after photo from my 1900s glass negative collection into video. Technically, there are some limitations but it’s the next best thing to having home movies of these folks who lived in my old home town of Philadelphia more than 110 years ago.

I’m posting three of these photos for Mother’s Day because a mom’s love cuts across all time eras and these photos are proof of that.

NOTE: I have the original paper envelopes that many of these glass plates were in. I removed the plates from these envelopes not long after I found them in my basement in 1978 because the envelopes were seriously degraded. The Unknown Photographer did write some notes on the envelopes about when and where they were taken.

#1: MRS. OTT and BABY

How many times have we told our young kids to look at the camera when their picture’s being taken? That’s what Mrs. Ott was doing here. According to notes on the glass plate’s envelope, this was taken on Dec. 21, 1906. The photographer writes the photo was taken “At Home,” presumably his home.

I dropped this photo into my AI program and brought it to life.

MRS. OTT and BABY: AI

#2: MOTHER, CHILD AND TOY

No information about this mother or the child.

MOTHER, CHILD AND TOY: AI

#3: META AND NORMAN

This is Meta McDermond and her youngest son Norman. She’s the woman we bought our Glenside home from in 1978. In fact, she’s standing in front of the home. This was taken on July 12, 1914.

The AI version has her Norman on the move.

META AND NORMAN: AI

Because she moved across the lawn, the computer needed to extend the front of the house. It looked nothing like it.

Here’s a1981 photo of my wife Justine and our 19-month-old son Justin by the front porch (which I was in the process of repairing).

Happy Mother’s Day to moms everywhere.