Month: August 2026

Seaside Shadows

A seaside holiday: flat caps, thick overcoats, and a bench overlooking the sun-stroked sands. Watching the worm diggers and perhaps sharing a potted-meat sandwich. The sun casts shadows across the stone jetty, while the sea leaves ripples in the sand.

Earl Of Buffs

I've always worked on the principle that, if you're walking past a pub, you should take a picture of it and then pop in for a pint - in case it isn't there the next time you pass. I clearly adhered to this principle in the early 1980s when I passed the Earl of Arundel … Continue reading Earl Of Buffs

Happy Anniversary

When this photograph was taken, Issy and I had already been together for three years. Three years later, we were married. That was 53 years ago today. That's an awful lot of days. And I wouldn’t change a single one of them.

Set In Stone

You could walk to the top of Shaw Lane in Halifax today and take a photograph similar to this one. I took mine almost half a century ago, but the mills are still standing and the cobbles are still set in the road. The stonework is cleaner these days, and that sense of post-industrial abandonment … Continue reading Set In Stone

Peter Howell

We lost a dear friend of over fifty years last week. Peter Howell was a noted classicist, a distinguished architectural historian, and a former chair of the Victorian Society. Perhaps most of all, he was a wise, witty, and loyal friend. This has always been one of my favourite photographs of him. I took it … Continue reading Peter Howell

Rough Sleeping

While walking around Greyfriars Kirkyard, I came across the tomb of William Littil (1525–1601), who was Provost of Edinburgh and one of the founders of the University of Edinburgh. The tomb’s elaborate carving was not completed until some eighty years after his death, and it has clearly seen better days. The additional head appears to … Continue reading Rough Sleeping

Cheers

Whenever I visit Edinburgh, I try to make time to visit the Queen Street rooms of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. I've been a member for more than thirty years, and tonight I'll have the pleasure of taking my son and daughter-in-law there for a meal. With any luck, we'll also have time for a … Continue reading Cheers

Auld Reekie

I've gone to Edinburgh for a few days. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to take some photographs. Here's one I took earlier.