Month: September 2023

THREE VERSIONS OF UNREALITY

A family group: - a distant family connection I suspect as they are far too posh for any branch of the family I know of. The first version was as the print now appears - fading into a sepia memory. The second version restores it to, what was probably, the original black and white. Version … Continue reading THREE VERSIONS OF UNREALITY

Portrait Of An Unknown Man With Hair

Let me start by saying that I have no idea who this is. Neither do I know how it came into my possession. Whatever the story of its life as a photograph - from Victorian studio to the box in the corner of my room marked "Found Photos" - it surely pales into insignificance compared … Continue reading Portrait Of An Unknown Man With Hair

Tall And Short

You can see how this photograph came about, you can read the mind of the photographer - big and small, tall and short, contrasts ... or whatever. The really intriguing question is who are these five men and could they possibly be related. There are some facial similarities, but surely the gene pool couldn't be … Continue reading Tall And Short

Sepia Pointillism

I am told that this is a photograph of my mother-in-law, Edith, with her nephew Edward. The thing that struck me about it was not so much the subjects, but the combined effect of age-related fading and the stipple paper the photo was printed on. Together they have created a kind of "sepia pointillism" which … Continue reading Sepia Pointillism

Tart’s General Dealers

When I took this photograph half a century ago, I never realised that I was recording a slice of social history. The age of the second-hand shop has now been eclipsed by Charity Shops and On-Line Auction sites. Bikes no longer hang from walls and Dalek paraffin heaters no longer stand guard over rows of … Continue reading Tart’s General Dealers

I’m Happy With That

This is a fairly early digital photograph of mine, but even so, it is getting on for twenty years old. I seem to recall that I was walking in Wainstalls, just north of Halifax, at the time, soaking up layer upon layer of scenery. At some stage it has picked up a few Photoshop filters, … Continue reading I’m Happy With That

Tasker And Self At The Gliding Club

You almost get a sense of freedom when you are dealing with found photographs (aka photos of unknown origin). The photographs are really "moments in time"; the subjects have no back stories and their futures our outside our knowledge or control. You are free to concentrate on the image itself. That instant in time that … Continue reading Tasker And Self At The Gliding Club

Escape From Heavenly Time

Not that many people know of Salvador Dali's 1968 surrealist sculpture "Escape From Time In Heaven" which was on public display in Halifax in the late 1960s. I did go to see it myself and was very impressed by it - I even took the photograph you see here - but I have difficulty recalling … Continue reading Escape From Heavenly Time

Smoke, Soot And Sweat

I’ve always been attracted to this scene and I have photographed it a number of times over the years. These days it is the tamest of views, the mills, railway viaducts and steam have all gone. Back in the 1960s, however, it belched life along with smoke and soot and sweat.