This is a photo of mine from sixty years ago of a rural school in Ireland. I'm not sure exactly why I took the photo; maybe I just thought it was a colourful scene, or maybe I thought that it captured a changing world. I looked the school up the other day; it is long … Continue reading Free School
Author: Alan Burnett
Dark Satanic Exclamation Marks
On the second part of our walk around Halifax in the 1930s, note the snow around Halifax Parish Church (nothing changes, does it?), and the black spire of the town hall punctuating the smoke-stacked atmosphere. And note the mills, as dark and satanic as any Blake poem, punctuating the life of the town, their chimneys … Continue reading Dark Satanic Exclamation Marks
Half A Walk
I'm inviting you to come and take a walk around Halifax in the 1930 courtesy of an old picture postcard from my collection. Or rather, half a picture postcard - the image is so full of fascinating detail I have divided it into two and you can see the second half tomorrow. You can start … Continue reading Half A Walk
The Fourth Piggy
This is one of the old mills that line the Calder and Hebble Navigation as it makes its way through Brighouse. It's like a practical demonstration of every kind of building method known to mankind. If there had been four little piggies in the tale, this is how the fourth piggy would have built his … Continue reading The Fourth Piggy
Back Street, Back Then
I think this is somewhere in Halifax, and I believe I took the photograph sometime in the 1960s. My apologies for not being more exact and for not keeping a proper note of when and where these photographs were taken. I keep records now with endless metadata and geotagged locations. I have nothing better to … Continue reading Back Street, Back Then
That Look
My love of images is very much a love of static images rather than moving ones. I'm not a TikTok type of chap; I've never been comfortable with films and videos. With a single photo, you are forced to survey the scene and then focus on the content: the caller's microphone, the attendant's raised arm, … Continue reading That Look
A Walkley Man
My love of old photographs has led me to collect thousands of them over the years and share them with fellow enthusiasts throughout the world. One way in which I do this is via a weekly internet meme, Sepia Saturday, which I started way back in 2009. Our theme this week is "Old Photographs As … Continue reading A Walkley Man
A Light From The East
When I was young, I became fascinated by a light I saw shining at night in the east. For a time, I flirted with a mystical or even spiritual interpretation, and then my brother told me it was a cinema and dance hall in Wyke. I have often journeyed to the east to try to … Continue reading A Light From The East
Happy New Year
It's the start of a new year, and I always seem to start with a photograph of Dean Clough, Halifax, or the surrounding streets and lanes. I took this particular picture back in 1970, a lifetime ago. Well, hopefully, a little less than a lifetime ago! Happy New Year.
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