Welcome to the Website of Alan Burnett: writer, blogger, collector of old photographs, and devotee of all things pointless and inconsequential.
Britannia’s Leafy Crown
It’s a photograph I have taken time and time again over the last half century: Britannia sitting atop her eponymous buildings in Elland. During the 1970s and 80s, the scene was stark – stone, soot slate and a few brave saplings. By 2016, when this version was taken, vegetation was in charge and Britannia wore a leafy crown.
Keep reading
Celebration At The Rock
This is a classic image of what has always been, to me, a classic pub. It’s not the closest pub to where I live, but it’s my local. It doesn’t have the…
Four Characters In Search Of a Narrative
Another image from that collection of old photographs I’ve acquired over the years, which fall under the general heading of “Found Photographs”. As usual, the questions of who, where and when must…
Oxford Days
A 40-odd year old photograph of me, surrounded by textbooks and typewriter, and captioned “Oxford, 1984” might suggest an involvement with some of the famed academic institutions of that city.…
Conversations With A. I. Lowry
So I said to AI, “What if L. S. Lowry had visited Elland and set up his easel on Saddleworth Road, looking towards Elland Bridge?” “Give me a photo to…
A Town In Transition
My photograph of Halifax dates from the early 1970s and shows the town during a time of transition. Centre stage is the Homfray carpet mill (although by then it had…
alanburnett.com 