Welcome to the Website of Alan Burnett: writer, blogger, collector of old photographs, and devotee of all things pointless and inconsequential.
Elland Power
Looking back at this photograph, which I took nearly half a century ago from Blackley Road and looking down over Elland, I’m reminded of how the power station used to dominate the landscape. When I took the photo, the power station was relatively new – the official opening took place in 1961 – but it was already nearing the end of its life. Within ten years it had been decommissioned; within twenty, it had been demolished.
Keep reading
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…
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…
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…
alanburnett.com 