I’ve had a whole lot of 35 mm printed photos (452 to be exact) lying in a large shoe box in my cupboard for many years now.

On Saturday the 16th of February 2013 I hauled them out and decided to convert them into digital copies.

Many are out of focus, stained and faulted in other ways. However, all reveal great and special memories.

This post and others to follow will showcase some of these photos.

I used my Canon 550 D (flash-off) set on a tripod to take a photo of a photo. Magic Lantern “audio remote shot” was used to avoid any shake on taking each shot.

A number of speckles and stains were removed, but I did not want to spend too much time restoring each photo where and if required.

Wikipedia gives one some basic information on vehicle theft.

Vehicles are stolen. Thieves then sometimes remove or modify the vehicle manufacturer’s details – chassis (VIN) and engine numbers that are stamped onto the body / engine block.

Manufacturer plates are sometimes riveted onto the vehicle body or engine. Unique numbers are also etched / sandblasted onto the window glass. Finally, other unique features are also hidden in and on the vehicle to help identify the vehicle’s true details if modified or changed by thieves.

Police are sometimes able to “uplift” the originals details using a variety of methods.

Below you will see, in jumbled up order, the following “old” photos:

• 1 – 2: stamped chassis covered with false stamped chassis and false plate riveted on
• 3 – 5: window glass tampered with
• 6 – 12: stamped chassis ground out but restored using chemicals 
• 13 – 19: vehicle hijacked, abandoned and burnt
• 20 – 22: owner chops up vehicle, reports stolen and then claims from insurers
• 23 – 25: stamped chassis, plate and lock changed on stolen mini-bus