Anna Leach was a prominent president of Emma Willard School in Troy NY. The school has a beautiful “hall of presidents” with portraits and photos of each person who has been president there – but had none of Miss Leach.  I was contacted when they found a small old photo in an archive, and asked if I could restore it to a painting sized portrait.

The original photo had been printed on newsprint so this is what it looked like up close.

In the end, I was successful – using a great many techniques to smooth and clarify the texture in the photo, and filters to give it a painterly quality, the tiny original was able to be blown up to 16″x20″. I arranged to have it printed on archival quality photo paper, and delivered it to the school to be framed and displayed – restoring Anna Leach to her rightful place in the Hall of Presidents.