All the walking in this Lockdown Spring sunshine takes us down roads, so familiar, we have long since stopped looking. And then we notice something we must have passed a hundred times, and we see it for the first time. In this case, it was a magnificent stone face on Netheroyd Hill Road in Huddersfield.
Author: Alan Burnett
Faded Pleasure
By the 1960s, all that was left of the once magnificent Sunny Vale Pleasure Gardens was a Go-Kart track, a rubbish-filled lake and a host of memories. There were two lakes - Victoria and Alexandra - and I am not sure which this one - I captured in this photo from the late 1960s - … Continue reading Faded Pleasure
Sheer Beauty
A stem of grass seeds plucked from the side of the road. Living within a quarter of a mile of one of the busiest motorways in the country, existing within inches of a noisy main road. Walked on, peed on, kicked, pinched and scattered. Sheer beauty.
Time And Place
I am not quite sure where the next image on the negative strip was taken, but it must have been somewhere between Coley (Image 1) and Hipperholme (Image 3). Half demolished buildings, slag heaps, silhouetted chimneys: it's an image of time rather than place. Hopefully someone will be able to pin down the location: all suggestions … Continue reading Time And Place
Old Age
Another in my series of high-resolution scanned flowers. I think this was an orchid at one time in its life, but now it is old and withered, a little twisted, and well passed its prime. It is old age. I know what it's like.
The Feel Of History
My negative scanning moves on to a new strip of negatives, one with just three negatives on it. It dates, I think, from the mid to late 1960s, and all three photographs are from the area around Halifax. I am almost certain that the first shows the tower of Coley Church, brooding in the background, … Continue reading The Feel Of History
Grandeur Without Guilt
Yesterday, I went for a socially distanced walk with my son in the grounds of Wortley Hall, Sheffield. This magnificent eighteenth century stately home has, for the past half century, been owned by the British labour and trade union movement, and used for meetings and residential courses, as well as being made available to the … Continue reading Grandeur Without Guilt
One Of The Grandest Views
The final shot in this particular strip of six negatives, and all the climbing and scaling of hillside and stone steps is worthwhile. The view from the top of Godley Bank, when you suddenly catch sight of that carpet of industry and activity that is Halifax, must be one of the grandest views of the … Continue reading One Of The Grandest Views
Godley Bridge
Anyone who has been following the progress of my scans for the last few days will know where I had arrived at by the end of this strip of negatives from the late 1960s. It is Halifax's answer to a triumphal arch: built by the Borough Engineer in 1900 out of stone and cast iron; … Continue reading Godley Bridge
alanburnett.com 