It seems so long ago - almost another age. The colours and styles may have changed, but then, as now, we stood on the edge and looked out.
Month: October 2026
Bare Beacon
When I look back at the pictures I took of Halifax in the 1960s and ’70s - the town I have always considered home - several things stand out. The town had a greyness then that went beyond an over-reliance on monochrome photography. There were still plenty of mill chimneys breaking up the skyline. Most … Continue reading Bare Beacon
Good Taste
Sitting in a restaurant, whiling away the time while the others enjoyed their starters, I began playing with the reflections of the bottles behind the bar. Within a handful of seconds, my photograph had bounced from Thongsbridge to an AI mega-kitchen on the far side of the world, where it was cooked to perfection and … Continue reading Good Taste
St Thomas And The Gasworks (Again)
This is another of those scenes I kept returning to in the 1960s, and I have several versions of it in my negative archive. Perhaps it was fortunate that I did my best to capture the scene in all its glory, because shortly afterwards, not only was the Gasworks frame demolished, but so too was … Continue reading St Thomas And The Gasworks (Again)
Here For The Day
This week, our weekly picture-postcard puzzle takes us to the United States. It is April 1906, and the writer simply tells us that his hand is still improving and that he is “here for the day.” The place in question appears to be the Pensions Building in Washington DC, where Civil War pensions were calculated … Continue reading Here For The Day
Shapes, Shades, And Stories
Sometimes you simply go somewhere and take photographs - no theme, no agenda, no expectations. As a record of a day out, it works better than any 5,000-word essay: shapes, shades, and stories.
Enjoy The View
I wish I could remember taking this photograph, but I can’t; after all, it was a long time ago. I must have been up Clifton way, looking down over the lower Calder Valley towards Brighouse. If you can’t get to sleep tonight, you could try the industrial West Yorkshire equivalent of counting sheep: counting mill … Continue reading Enjoy The View
Leaving The Shed
This 1947 photograph came into my care through family hand-me-downs and shows a retirement party at a Bingley mill in January 1947. It is not clear whether the person retiring is the man or the woman at the centre of the photograph, but I suspect it is Abraham Moore, my uncle’s father, who worked as … Continue reading Leaving The Shed
Framed
When you’ve got a good subject - say, a fifteenth-century Grade I parish church - you need a good frame. What better frame for a church steeped in toil and industry than a nineteenth-century railway viaduct? My photo dates from a time when Halifax Parish Church was properly framed; now the subject remains, but the … Continue reading Framed
