We do gable ends well in Yorkshire. We're proud of them. Stick a little window in them, give them a bob or two's worth of lace curtains. Let them stand out like giant headstones. These were fifty years ago somewhere down Southowram Bank: within twisting distance of where yesterday's photograph was taken from. This photo … Continue reading Mill, Church, Gable And Hillside
Year: 2020
A Mug Of Tea Photo
The next shot on this strip of negatives is a mug of tea photo. Not a passing fancy you can digest with a single glance whilst you sip a mouthful of Lapsang souchong, not even a thoughtful perusal whilst you drink a cup of PG Tips. For this photo you need a mug full of … Continue reading A Mug Of Tea Photo
Cleethorpes, 1984 – Quality Rock
I went to Cleethorpes a lot in the 1980s; for some reason it suited my mood. It was wet and a little bit lost, and like me, trying to come to terms with a new normality. With me it was deafness, and with Cleethorpes it was economic and social change.
Do Old Men Dream In Black And White?
I recall, many, many years ago, having a discussion with my brother, Roger, as to whether we dream in colour or black and white. I was a young lad taking photographs, with a budget that could not even imagine the expenses involved in colour photography. He was older, wiser and a "proper artist" with tubes … Continue reading Do Old Men Dream In Black And White?
A Perspective On Age
Just for a change, I know precisely where I took this photograph from some forty-odd years ago. The houses are still there, pinned to the side of Southowram Bank with all the gravity-defying stubbornness that only a Yorkshire builder can demonstrate. It is Blaithroyd Lane, Halifax, and if you turn to Google Street View or … Continue reading A Perspective On Age
The Classic British Seaside
The classic British seaside: sands, sea, boats and buckets. It doesn't matter where it is or when it is. It can be a precious day snatched from the steam-filled clutches of a Victorian mill, or an escape from a Corona-driven lockdown. I have photographs of my Uncle Frank and Aunty Miriam sat on a beach … Continue reading The Classic British Seaside
Harry Moore At The Piano
Uncle Harry was the nearest you could get to a celebrity in our family. For a time in the early 1930s he "trod the boards", being part of a concert party that did the rounds of the seaside pier halls of Britain. He was never top of the bill, his job was to provide piano … Continue reading Harry Moore At The Piano
Some Escape
This old photograph of mine dates from fifty years ago and it shows a mill fire escape somewhere in Halifax. The good old days, before all this health and safety nonsense, when your mill could catch fire at the drop of a fag end, and a swift exit down the fire escape would give you … Continue reading Some Escape
Where The Art Is
The French writer, Andre Gide, once said, "art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” (well Google says he said it). Gide died in 1951 and therefore he missed out on smart phone apps. If he had lived on and managed to download a handful of … Continue reading Where The Art Is
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