Over the past few months, I’ve fallen down more than a few rabbit holes—most of them involving technology, traditional art, and vintage photography.
What started as casual tinkering with tech tools has become an honest-to-goodness hobby. In my free time, I find myself revisiting both new and old “friends” by breathing (artificial) life into old photos. With the help of AI video generators, I’m taking frozen moments from decades past and reimagining them in subtle, respectful ways.
So much of LGBTQ history lives inside private snapshots and stolen glances. Many of these images were never meant for public view. They survived by chance—tucked in shoeboxes, passed down quietly, digitized without context. Often the names of the subjects have been lost to time, and what remains is just a glimpse of a moment that once meant everything to someone.
When I first started, I thought I’d only be “recoloring” and “restoring” old photos. But the deeper I went, the more ways I discovered to bring them to life. The faces in these images—smiling, serious, hopeful, guarded—remind me that our history isn’t only about big milestones or famous figures; it’s also about the everyday lives and fleeting joys that make life worth living.
And behind those small, tender moments is the ongoing struggle for representation and respect—people carving out space for themselves and for one another in a world that often tried to erase us.
With AI, I experiment gently: enhancing details so faces emerge, animating portraits to suggest movement, and colorizing black-and-white scenes to make them feel more immediate. My goal isn’t to “fix” the past but to build an emotional bridge—one that lets us experience these moments with fresh eyes while still respecting their origins.
For me, there’s something profoundly moving about seeing vintage photos come to life. It feels a bit like stepping into a time machine, even if only for a few seconds. I tend to hold my breath as the images shift from static artifacts to animated glimpses of our collective, colorful history.
For me, this work isn’t about showing off what technology can do—it’s about using tech tools to express what I feel when I sit with these photos. Each one feels like holding someone’s memory in my hands.
Working on these reimagined remixes has become a quiet act of remembrance, a way of saying, I see you. You were here. You mattered.
If nothing else, my new hobby has taught me that technology and memory can meet in beautiful ways—helping to personalize and preserve history, and reminding us to pause and appreciate the photos and stories that have survived.
Keep calm and carry on!
Clint 🌈✌️
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BIRTHDAYS
1487 = Pope Julius III = Head of the Roman Catholic church 🌈
1886 = H.D. = American writer 🌈
1894 = Alexander Dovzhenko = Soviet filmmaker of Ukrainian origin
1914 = Robert Wise = American director and producer
1929 = Arnold Palmer = American golfer and businessman
1931 = Philip Baker Hall = American actor
1933 = Karl Lagerfeld = German-French fashion designer and photographer 🌈
1934 = Charles Kuralt = American journalist
1935 = Mary Oliver = American poet
1937 = Daniel Defert = French sociologist and activist 🌈
1945 = José Feliciano = Puerto Rican singer-songwriter
1950 = Joe Perry = American singer-songwriter
1953 = Amy Irving = American actor
1958 = Chris Columbus = American filmmaker
1958 = Siobhan Fahey = Irish singer-songwriter
1959 = Michael Earl = American actor, singer, and puppeteer
1960 = Alison Bechdel = American cartoonist 🌈
1960 = Colin Firth = English actor and producer
1968 = Big Daddy Kane = American rapper, producer, and actor
1968 = Guy Ritchie = English filmmaker
1969 = Johnathon Schaech = American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1972 = James Duval = American actor and producer
1974 = Ryan Phillippe = American actor and producer
1979 = Jacob Young = American actor
1984 = Harry Treadaway = English actor
1984 = Luke Treadaway = English actor
1987 = Alex Saxon = American actor
EVENTS
1846 = Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine.
1924 = Leopold and Loeb are found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of teenager Bobby Franks in Chicago in "the crime of the century."
1955 = Gunsmoke premieres on CBS.
1987 = Clive Barker’s directorial debut, Hellraiser, is released in theaters.
1991 = “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana is released as a single.
1993 = The X-Files premieres on Fox.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When I was a child I asked my mother what homosexuality was about and she said —and this was 100 years ago in Germany and she was very open-minded —'It's like hair color. It's nothing. Some people are blond and some people have dark hair. It's not a subject.' This was a very healthy attitude.”
Karl Lagerfeld
“Bears are very nice, as long as you are nice to them.”
Karl Lagerfeld
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I have been a YouTube subscriber for a while now and have really enjoyed your videos!! As a 70+ (not saying what the plus is), I can't wait to see what you come up with next. Especially interested in you bringing older "tin type" photos back to life. Thanks for all your artistry and love!!