Towards the end of the 19th century, most towns would have at least one professional photographer's studio. It was a time when ordinary people began to have their photos taken, and such photographs - in the form of small "carte de visites" or slightly larger "cabinet cards" - became family treasures. The studios were keen … Continue reading Halifax Faces
Month: February 2025
Antiquity And Modernity
I seem to remember - although it was almost sixty years ago - I was trying to capture the contrast between the antiquity of the statues in People's Park, Halifax, and the modernity of what was then Percival Whitley College in the background. Now the bits of that building that remain within the shell of … Continue reading Antiquity And Modernity
Torre Del Grimsby
Many famous public buildings in both Europe and America have been copies of the wonderful 14th century Torre del Mangia in Sienna, Italy, but one of the most surprising perhaps, is the Grimsby Dock Tower. The 19th century tower was built to accommodate the 30,000 gallons of water required to power the hydraulic machinery in … Continue reading Torre Del Grimsby
Soul, Grace And Majesty
Stand on any hillside surrounding Halifax, and you should be able to make out the town's three great spires: Square Church, the Town Hall, and All Soul's Church. Perhaps the most majestic of the three is Sir George Gilbert Scott's graceful All Soul's which stands on Haley Hill just north of the town centre. Scott … Continue reading Soul, Grace And Majesty
Capturing Etruria
Old strips of negatives can be wonderfully evocative because they provide context as well as individual images. This strip of 35mm monochrome images of mine dates back to the early 1970s when I was at university in Keele and would frequently escape the rigors of macroeconomic theory by wandering the byways of the neighbouring five … Continue reading Capturing Etruria
The First Tram In Space
This is a view of a road I knew so well. I used to walk down from school and then take a short cut from Clover Hill Road to Well Head and then the Bus Station for the bus home. There won't have been tram lines there in my school days, but somehow the memories … Continue reading The First Tram In Space
Atlas
You know what it's like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Here's Atlas - courtesy of Elisabeth Frink - just outside the Weston Gallery at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Yesterday, the February sun shone down and all of a sudden so much of that weight was taken away.
Monochrome Home
There is something about old black and white photographs - the way they flatten and simplify scenes; the way they mask so much and reveal even more. I'm sure we saw scenes in black and white as soon as we looked through the viewfinder back in those days - we had monochrome eyes. Colour was … Continue reading Monochrome Home
An Excursion To Burslem
We all have ways of passing the hours; exercises in pointless occupation that relax and revive our troubled minds. I like to wander through my old negative albums trying to track down where I took photographs half a century or more ago. Today's excursion on Google Earth took me down Newcastle Street, Burslem - fifty-four … Continue reading An Excursion To Burslem
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