Circa 1930's Foto-Fix - Jose Cruz - Brownsville, Texas

Thanks to David Muñoz for his permission to share this photo of his grandfather

The following images show a progression from original to digitized enhancement.  

 Mr. Jose Cruz worked as a laborer and migrant farmer.  His grandson David Muñoz submitted this photo which appears to have been taken on a dry brush/dirt field or quite possible the dunes of South Padre Island.  The vehicle appears to be a 1928 Ford Model AA 1 1/2 ton pick-up truck which would have been the off-road vehicle of choice at the time.

Family members state that Mr Cruz worked fields north of what would have been known as "the boulevard" before being paved and named Palm Blvd. 

The city eventually built Brownsville's first large-sized brick edifice to house high school students for several decades (to known as Central Middle School / Brownsville Independent School District Administration building).  Brownsville originally boomed as a producer of cotton which lasted well into the late 1950s (if my historical recollection is correct) but other crops included citrus and other produce.

Mr Cruz also unloaded ships at the port of Brownsville (built 1936) which brought bananas from South America and other products when we were known as "The Gateway to the Hemisphere" (because we were a global hub that included a port (by sea) -- an airport (by air) -- a railway system (by rail) and roads to transport by the truckloads.

As a blogger I seldom write anything and intended to write about the process of enhancing the photo.  While it was impossible (beyond my capabilities) to uncover Mr Cruz's facial features it was not impossible to make an attempt to do a bit of digital body work to restore the ol' Ford pick-up truck.  I was fortunate to find a few images searching the internet to make this possible.  Mr Munoz and I agree that several enhancements look contrived but as a learning exercise I found this digitized photo restoration very challenging and once again thank David for allowing me the pleasure of attempting to bring out the details.