George Lamson Photography

05/04/2026

Just to follow up on the last post about using AI, here are some further enhancements that are amazing and a little scary.

04/25/2026

AI Gold
"AI Slop" has run rampant on the internet, but it really belies the true power of this amazing technology when it comes to image technology. Case in point is this very famous image of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir at Glacier Point in Yosemite. The photographic technology of the day only allowed this scenic image to be captured in shades of gray, failing to capture the true beauty of the scene. The amazing power of the AI technology today can be used with a few simple phrases to recreate the image into what it must have appeared to the photographer that captured it. Not only could the AI restore the richness of the colors but is was able to widen the image to show the fullness of the Yosemite Valley. It knew where and how Yosemite Falls and Half Dome should be placed in the image. It also increased the resolution of the photo to reveal more detail making it more realistic. Using todays technology to enhance the limited technology of the past and making it more authentic is AI gold.

01/24/2026

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12/25/2025

09/22/2025

The AI sea change...
So far all the colorized images in this series have been colorized by me using photoshop. I've developed these skills over the last couple of years and it still takes a bit of time to do the restoration and colorization. Today's "AI Revolution" has made these skills nearly obsolete. The three images below illustrate my point. The original b&w image is of my father (on the left) when he was a fireman working for the Pennsylvania railroad in New York, circa 1950. The first colorized photo (my father in the red shirt) was done by me. The second colorized photo (my father in the blue shirt) was done completely by AI. Not only is the image so much better, but it is 10x the resolution of the starting photo. And it took less than 5 minutes for AI to produce the image from a simple prompt. Today anybody that can type can restore a photo pretty much anyway they want. It's amazing and scary at the same time.

09/21/2025

Special events were really a challenge for early black & white photography. I've already discussed the technical problems of having to use large heavy gear and slow shutter speeds. For the historian the lack of color can make the event seem rather drab and lackluster. Today's image is of the dedication ceremony for the Donner Pioneer Monument at Donner Lake in June 1918. I've included the B&W image to illustrate how color can really make the event more vibrant and festive.

09/20/2025

If you squint just a little, today's image might look like a Rockwell cover of the Saturday Evening Post. The scene is actually at the Crampton Market at Big Bend and the people are the proprietor CB Crampton and his wife Ethyl. They ran the store and the Crampton Inn along Highway 40 during the 30s and 40s.

09/19/2025

In the early years of skiing at Sugar Bowl at Donner Summit, many of the skiers road the train up from the lowlands. They stayed at hotels and lodges in Soda Springs and Norden. To get up to the slopes they piled on to flat bed sleds pulled by tractors that hauled them over to the resort.

09/18/2025

Hanging with Crash...
This one is near and dear to my heart. In 1951 my family made the train trip out to California from New York. We spent a couple of weeks seeing all the sights in LA. One of the best was our visit to Corriganville out in sleepy Simi Valley. Today's image is of me (on the back) my sister Karen (on the front) and my cousin Colleen along with my aunt Rita and Crash himself. While I enjoyed it, my sister Karen not so much. As it turned out she grew up loving horses all her life.

09/17/2025

A Big Fat Italian Wedding...
My parents were married in 1946, right after World War II. I came along two years later making me one of the original Boomers. Today's image is of the reception at their wedding, the classic Italian wedding in New York. Kudos to the photographer that got a photo of just about every person looking at the camera.