Brown paper bags, pounds, shilling, and pence, headscarves and overcoats - it's almost as though someone had bought a tube of concentrated nostalgia and squeezed it all over this photograph of mine of Halifax Borough Market back in the 1960s. And if they really did sell tubes of concentrated nostalgia, you would have been sure … Continue reading Concentrated Nostalgia
Month: October 2025
Yorkshire Paradise
I took the photograph that became the basis for this image of Paradise Square in Sheffield back in 1980. There was snow on the ground, which was slowly being transformed into mucky slush. My digital messing has given the whole thing a brownish tint, which somehow suits it. Paradise - Yorkshire style.
Nostalgia Post
These days, local newspapers seem to be dominated by a pointless mix of clickbait and nostalgia. So let us engage in our own little festival of nostalgia for the days when there were daily local newspapers that received letters and had the kind of adverts you could reply to, all finished in copper and bordered … Continue reading Nostalgia Post
Bradford Texture
The printing technology used in the production of so many early twentieth century picture postcards was somewhat crude and resulted in many local scenes looking as though they had been produced by the French pointillist, Georges Seurat, on an off-day. However, if you Photoshop them and go to town with the "Texture" control, you can … Continue reading Bradford Texture
The Longtown Cyclist
My great uncle, Fowler Beanland, left his native Keighley in the early years of the twentieth century to work in Longtown, Cumbria. He was a great collector of photographs and picture postcards, and this photo of his "old friend", John Audley, comes from his collection, which I was lucky enough to inherit half a century … Continue reading The Longtown Cyclist
The Crown
The Crown Brewery once stood on Bradford Road in the village of Northowram, just north of Halifax. It was built in the 1870s as a brewery by John Eastwood, a local farmer who had turned his hand to brewing a few years earlier. The brewery closed in 1900, and the building was finally demolished in … Continue reading The Crown
Sitting On The Dock
This rather strange hybrid of a photograph and colourful daubing emerged from an archaeological dig conducted on the top shelf of one of the bookshelves in my room. If I created it, I have no memory of doing so. The woman in the photograph is my mother, and the man - Uncle Charlie - a … Continue reading Sitting On The Dock
The Cocoa Sheds Of Elland
When I took this photograph fifty years ago, this was all that was left of the premises of the Velcot Coco Company of Elland. They advertised their product as "Invaluable for infants, invalids and the aged" and said it "agrees with the weakest stomach and makes blood, bone and muscle". Oh, what I'd give for … Continue reading The Cocoa Sheds Of Elland
Four Girls In A Boat
A random dip into my overflowing box of "Found Photographs" comes up with a strange little print. Badly faded, creased and torn, it nevertheless provides a fascinating insight into a world long gone. Do a high-resolution scan and you can lose yourself in a Mandelbrot set of absorbing images.
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