Kathleen Courtney was an Edwardian actress who starred in a variety of shows and pantomimes during the first decade of the twentieth century. If she had been alive now, she would have had a large Twitter and Facebook following, but given her time of popularity, her photograph graced an endless series of Edwardian picture postcards.
Month: June 2021
Away 1 : Fish And Chips On The Front
AWAY 1 : There used to be home and away. Home was where you lived fifty-one weeks of the year. Away was your week at the seaside. This, however, was quite a late shot: the give away is that the fish and chips are in polystyrene boxes. By the 1980s, away was more likely to … Continue reading Away 1 : Fish And Chips On The Front
Home 3 : Bus Stop In Halifax
It's a grainy old photograph of a bus stop in Halifax. When I took it fifty-odd years ago, I'm not sure what I thought I was taking. In retrospect (one of the most powerful lenses available to any photographer) I captured a slice of social history. There is something about the confident walk of the … Continue reading Home 3 : Bus Stop In Halifax
Primitives
There were a lot of primitives in my family : my great uncle Arthur was a prominent primitive, as were the Clayton cousins before they defected to the Plymouth Brethren. This badge, I suspect, belonged to my father - who grew up a couple of streets away from the Great Horton Primitive Methodist Chapel in … Continue reading Primitives
Halls, Mills, Rows And Graves
My daily calendar images go on, even though my walls are now full and my calendar holder is overflowing. The last four days has seen an eclectic gathering of cloth halls, satanic mills, rotten rows and graveyard statues. As the calendar images appear each day they are a bit like digital tarot cards, spelling out … Continue reading Halls, Mills, Rows And Graves
Family 1 : Miriam In London
It's a far from perfect photograph: the composition is unconventional, the focus is unsteady and my Uncle Frank's finger seems to have obliterated the bottom corner of the shot: but still it is one of my favourite family photographs. Frank Fieldhouse took the photograph whilst on a trip to London with his wife-to-be Miriam Burnett in August … Continue reading Family 1 : Miriam In London
Home 2 : Bank Bottom, Halifax
The second picture in my "Home" collection is this photograph of Bank Bottom, Halifax, which I took somewhere around 1970. Square Church spire is framed by the old Riding Hall Carpet Mill and the Halifax Gas Works. If you would like to see this picture in person, it is currently on view as part of … Continue reading Home 2 : Bank Bottom, Halifax
Home 1 : Halifax Piece Hall
I decided to gather together some of my favourite photographs under a variety of headings: home, away, family, strangers etc. It is a pointless project, and therefore one I am particularly drawn to. This is the first photo in the "Home" category. I took it over half a century ago. It was home then. It's … Continue reading Home 1 : Halifax Piece Hall
Catching Up
We've been away for a few days. How strange it is to be able to say that: how quickly the unusual has become normality, and how threatening the world outside can appear when you have been locked indoors for too long. So we left lockdown behind and visited Chester and Nantwich: enjoyed good times with … Continue reading Catching Up
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