• Our nickname for my dad came about when I was a toddler. I wasn’t able to pronounce “Tati” – Slovak for “Dad”. The best I could do was “Taci”, pronounced “Tat-see” so it stuck for everyone among the extended family. I had many miss-pronunciations throughout my childhood. They were never corrected and became part of my household vocabulary. It eventually became a problem when we visited other friends of my parents. I was around eight years old when we visited a Czech family and I asked the lady if I could “pikat”. She looked at me with confusion, and I repeated the request. I started to get nervous as she still didn’t understand me. So I said in English if I could please have a drink. To my horror she laughed uncontrollably, and said something along the lines of, “chceš niečo pit? (Do you want something to drink?)” Suddenly, with this one mistake it occurred to me that my Slovak was terrible, and I would barely speak a word of Slovak until my mid-20’s when I moved to Prague, Czech Republic.
• My dad died 35 years ago today. I miss him tremendously.
I love you, Taci
• Technical Notes
• I don’t like scratch removal solutions provided by scanners. Even though they offer a quick-fix in removing unwanted damage, I find that it degrades the overall image significantly in the process. My methodology is to always preserve as much detail and texture in the photo as possible, and manually manipulate the images in Adobe Photoshop instead. Even though I sharpen the images, the process will never restore lost data (contrary to what we see on CSI TV shows). Sharpening results in an increase of grain, but I prefer grain over a blurry image.
• My approach is to scan all images without any fancy correction tools, and make the corrections on a pixel by pixel basis in Photoshop. In some cases I will add content around the edges in order to correct composition issues. I will also paint detail that may be completely damaged. I call this “digital restoration with creative license”. The entire process requires a lot of patience, but at the same time, while I am restoring the images, I feel that I am apart of that moment in time, and that makes the work more adoring.
• Taci
If you missed the other Taci posts, you can link to them here:
• 1960 • Barca, Slovakia • Vaclav Dusil
• Prior to matriculation (graduation) from the agricultural middle School in Barca (now a part of Košice), students had a mini-scientific conference. My dad won the first prize, and in this photo he is presenting his findings. In the background is one of his teachers. My mother graduated from the same school.
• Postscript from my Mom • 2014 September • We commuted by streetcar, which took about half an hour. Taci would be around 18 years old in this photo. This high school was focused on veterinary studies. The table is covered with velvet, so it must have been a special event.
• 1965 • Łysa Polana, Poland • Vaclav Dusil
• 1966 • Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam • Vaclav Dusil
• 5 minutes 26 seconds
• My dad went on a trip to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris in the summer of 1966. These are a selection of photos from that trip. I still have the leather jacket that he has on in these pictures.
• Tags
Andrej Collak, Anna Collakova, Attila Kende, Csaba Kende, Darina Poprenakova, Digital Restoration, Dusil Family, dusil.com, Edo Novak, Erika Dusil, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, Ivan Spisak, Iveta Kende, Juraj Bialko, Karol Dusil, Kende Family, Ladislav Kende, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Maria Dusilova, Michal Jr, Michal Korytko, Nyarjas, Orendas, Pepo Vesecky, Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil sr., Slavo Sykorsky, Stefan Kende, Vaclav Dusil, Valeria Kendeova, Vera Kendeova
Gabriel Dusil • Time Is Relentless 
God bless you Gaby. I know you are making your father proud with your accomplishments and carrying on his memory with this blog. A beautiful way to keep your Dad alive in your heart and his grandsons hearts. 35yrs and he is still so close to you and he will always be .
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