A vase of lilies stands next to my TV. With a slight rotation of my head, I can move from war to peace.
Month: March 2022
AUTHENTICITY?
UNKNOWN WOMAN WITH A LARGE HAT : Whyte & Sons Studio, Union Street, Glasgow. Authenticity is a strange concept when it comes to photography. Even the best photographic image is far from authentic. Repairing old photographs does not destroy their authenticity, it merely shifts it onto another plain. So bring on the filters and get … Continue reading AUTHENTICITY?
SPRING INTO STYLE
HALIFAX DAILY COURIER & GUARDIAN, 9 MARCH 1932 : Thumbing through a 90 year old newspaper and I find an advert that appeals to me. I think I would look good in that overcoat, and it is a bargain at only £3.15p. But, hang on a moment: according to the Bank of England's On-Line Inflation Calculator … Continue reading SPRING INTO STYLE
VICTORIAN REALITY
VICTORIAN STUDIO PORTRAIT OF UNKNOWN WOMAN (BROWN, BARNES & BELL, LIVERPOOL) : The Victorians would have loved those smartphone apps where you can brighten your smile, get rid of your piggy eyes, and dissolve blemishes. Look carefully at any old Victorian studio portrait and you can see where eyebrows have been extended and spots scraped … Continue reading VICTORIAN REALITY
STOP IT
CLEETHORPES, 1983 (ALAN BURNETT) : I must stop messing about with old photographs: blurring them, changing them, artying them up. It has become a form of compulsive behaviour, and I have gone way beyond the line in the sand where I can judge whether they are of any value.
WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
SHEFFIELD MIDLAND STATION (1983) Alan Burnett Another of my old photographs which I filed away into obscurity forty years ago, but return to now because I have nothing better to do. It is out of focus and blurred, but so are my memories. Don't ask me to say why I like it, I can't tell … Continue reading WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
BLUE SKIES AND WARM STONE
Church Street, Honley A walk from Netherton to Honley and back again - down, up, down, up - and the day decides to practice at being Spring. The skies are blue and the stone is thinking about trying to absorb the coming heat.
TICKETS PLEASE
Vintage Bus Tickets (Alan Burnett) There is something rather beautiful about old bus tickets. Those stout cardboard ones from seventy or so years ago, or those brightly coloured paper ones of forty or fifty years ago - there is both a tactile and visual pleasure in both. Where they exist today, bus tickets are meaningless … Continue reading TICKETS PLEASE
FROZEN IN TIME AND SURROUNDED BY HISTORY
Two Unknown Women At The Seaside (1940s) This little two inch square print fell out of my "Unknown Photos" box whilst I was rescuing another print. It clearly was determined to be scanned and processed and shared with the world - so here it is. Whoever the subjects are, they were frozen in time and … Continue reading FROZEN IN TIME AND SURROUNDED BY HISTORY
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