I reach into an old box of 35mm colour slides and pull out three random slides for scanning, all of which date from the 1960s. The first was taken in the Autumn of 1968 and shows my bedroom at Fircroft College in Birmingham complete with Cuban posters and a picture of Karl Marx that was … Continue reading Crouching Photographer, Hidden Dog
Year: 2018
Bookmarks For The Summer Of ’18
Photographs are the bookmarks of life: they are there to remind us of passages that are important for one reason or another. I have a feeling that there will be all sorts of reasons why I remember the summer of 2018, but, for the moment, it will be the weather. Even if it now rains … Continue reading Bookmarks For The Summer Of ’18
Albert And Gladys Take To The Continent
Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week features a group of people sat around a table in Norway. My submission features a couple of people sat around a table in France. The people are, in fact, my mother and father, Albert and Gladys Burnett, and the photographs dates back to 1962 and a family holiday … Continue reading Albert And Gladys Take To The Continent
Pigeons In Ruperra
This is an intriguing little photograph (just six by four centimetres) from a tiny album of photographs I bought on what we in Yorkshire call t'internet. All the photographs date from 1931 and 1932 and were taken in and around Ruperra Castle in Wales. At the time, the castle was owned by Evan Morgan, 4th … Continue reading Pigeons In Ruperra
Mechanical History
During the 19th Century there was a great tradition of building Mechanic's Institutes in the towns and villages of the industrial north of England. Not only were these centres for adult education, cultural enrichment, and political debate; they were also fine buildings in their own right. A small number still pursue their original function, but … Continue reading Mechanical History
Faces From Nowhere
This isn't really a "Picture from Nowhere" because I know it is a photograph of children at South Crosland Junior School in Huddersfield and, I would guess, it was taken in the nineteen forties or early fifties. They are, however, faces from nowhere - young faces that went somewhere in life.
Exchanging Ships For Rowing Boats
A walk around Sheffield, thirty years ago courtesy of a strip of negatives I scanned today. The River Don from Lady's Bridge, with the old Exchange Brewery on the left hand side. Until 1961, the brewery was owned by Tennants, who then became part of the Whitbread empire. These days all traces of the brewery … Continue reading Exchanging Ships For Rowing Boats
In Search Of Neighbours
This is a classic British "snap" from the 1930s. Amongst our island nation, there is some compelling desire to take to the nearest small boat and explore our coastline. It doesn't matter that the sea is grey, and the coastal wind is sharp enough to cut your jib on - we take to the water. … Continue reading In Search Of Neighbours
A Chocolate Wrapped In Black Crape
My first thought when I examined this old Carte de Visite from the Wolverhampton studios of Carl Holt was, who was the real woman under all these clothes? She has the look of a bleached milk chocolate wrapped in too many layers of coloured cellophane - or rather mourning-black crape. It is high summer outside, … Continue reading A Chocolate Wrapped In Black Crape
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