ABOUT JOELLE STEELE

AND PHOTORESTORICS

Photorestorics is one of several Web site businesses owned by Joelle Steele and Joelle Steele Enterprises, founded in 1983. Joelle Steele is a digital photo restorer, facial features analyst, and handwriting expert.

Joelle became interested in photography when she was 10 years old, and for years she never left the house without a camera. In her late teens, she became interested in antique photography, and by 1973 she was restoring photographs in the darkroom. In 1994, she began using Photoshop and doing digital photo restoration. She has since digitally restored more than 5,000 photographs. The majority of her work is focused on restoration rather than enhancement. This ensures that a photo achieves and retains its original appearance rather than assuming an unnatural or artificial "graphic" look. Her projects range in size from individual photos to large collections.

In 1975, Joelle's interest in genealogy and antique family photos developed into a desire to identify people in old photograph albums. She studied the early works of forensic ear expert Alfred Iannarelli, and then studied facial and cranial anatomy for the sole purpose of making the most precise identifications possible. In 1980, she began offering her services as an anthropometrist specializing in the analysis and comparison of facial features to authenticate or confirm identities of people in photographs. Her first client was a Nazi hunter with more than 200 photos purported to be of missing Nazi war criminals. Unlike most photo authenticators who rely primarily on historic provenance, Joelle specializes only in analyzing faces and confirming identities of people in photographs. She uses an anthropometric system she first developed in the late 1970s for ensuring the most exacting and accurate comparative measurements. She does not rely on any biometric software as it uses only a handful of measurements which do not produce accurate results for this purpose (yet), while Joelle's system includes more than 100 analyzable facial traits and features — more than 20 for the ears alone. In 1992, Joelle authored a short book titled Anthropometry and the Human Face in Photographs. A greatly expanded version of this book is scheduled for release in Spring 2013, and is titled Face to Face: Analysis and Comparison of Facial Features to Authenticate the Identities of People In Photographs.

When she was a teenager, Joelle was also interested in and studied handwriting analysis. In 1987, she became a certified graphoanalyst/handwriting expert specializing in forgery detection. As of 2009, she narrowed that practice to the analysis and authentication of handwriting and signatures on old photographs.

Joelle has a Bachelor's Degree in Language Arts (a double major in English and Linguistics) and is the author of many books and articles. She provides her services throughout the United States and internationally. Her clients include individuals, businesses, family historians, genealogists, historical societies, auctioneers, appraisers, libraries, museums, university archives, private investigators, criminal attorneys, publishers, advertising agencies, Web site owners, film-makers, and television producers.