I'm pretty certain that this photograph - taken well over 50 years ago - was taken somewhere in Halifax. It has all the necessary ingredients: an overgrown, stone-cobbled lane rising up a steep hillside to meet a soot-blackened wall of monumental proportions. It's probably so obviously Halifax that, at no time over the last half … Continue reading In Halifax
A 1916 Girl
On the back of this sepia portrait of an unknown girl is a studio stamp that states: "W Buckley, Portrait Specialist, 28 August 1916, Regent Square, Blackpool." There is something quite beautiful about the portrait - William Rawlinson Buckley was a celebrated Blackpool photographer - and something that is so resonant of the time. This, … Continue reading A 1916 Girl
A Heated Basin
We are living through record heatwaves here in the UK at the moment, experiencing temperatures that make you want to find a cool stretch of water and take the plunge. I took today's photograph in Brighouse Canal Basin well over half a century ago, when it was surrounded by gasworks and endless, rundown factories. You … Continue reading A Heated Basin
A 1907 Poke
A "Facebook Poke" is defined as "a digital nudge or virtual greeting used to get a friend's attention." The equivalent 120 years ago was a postcard - sent, as it happens, to my great-uncle Fowler Beanland - with the slightly ambiguous message, "What Ho." The advantage of the 1907 poke is that we can compare … Continue reading A 1907 Poke
The Swinging Sixties
The summers of my youth, when the most avant-garde experience might have been listening to a trad-jazz combo in the park. And if the sun was shining, they might even hang their jackets up and perform in their shirt sleeves. Ah, the swinging sixties.
Albert
It's Fathers' day here in the UK, so today's picture is in honour of my father. Taken over 90 years ago, the photograph shows a man who is both a stranger and also familiar - an older man I knew well, dressed in a younger man's clothes. I look at him and see some of … Continue reading Albert
Bridge Art
There should be a special category of art for the work displayed on the metal panels that line endless railway bridges and other lumps of transport infrastructure in this country. Some of it is organised, some of it is feral, and much of it is boring and unimaginative - but some of it would earn … Continue reading Bridge Art
Shibden Gate
There is always a temptation to submit images that don't pass the pinpoint definition test - or that fail short of the standard for clarity and contrast - to some AI controlled filter that promises "crystal clear pictures that look like they were taken yesterday!" I didn't take this photo of the Shibden valley near … Continue reading Shibden Gate
Tired Pinks And Sooty Greens
The view looking back up the Calder Valley from the top of Long Wall, Elland provides all the sensuous curves demanded by even the most obsessive nineteenth century French Impressionist. And that palette of tired pinks and sooty greens perfectly suits this land we call home. The image is a result of my favourite occupation: … Continue reading Tired Pinks And Sooty Greens
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