The development of photography in the nineteenth century provided us with a unique window through which we could view history. Before that, we only had the imagined faces of our ancestors or, if you were lucky, a fanciful artist's portrait or two. By the 1860s, when this little photograph of mine was taken, you had … Continue reading Documenting History
Memories Of Elland
Memories aren't sharp; they blur into shapes and condense into moods. Memories aren't perfect; they're cut and they're edited like some Panorama report. This was Elland fifty years ago, and it seems green and pleasant. It wasn't. It's a memory.
Tri-X
The other day I used Paul Simon's lyrics from his song "Kodachrome" to introduce a colourful picture taken in Huddersfield Open Market. Today's picture is from the same market, but it is anything but colourful. Paul Simon never did write a song called "Tri-X", which is a pity, really.
On The Shore
This photograph is taken from a batch of family photos that once belonged to my great-uncle Albert. The subject may be him - or, more likely, his son-in-law - but it is the composition that stands out. It's a brilliant photo from almost a century ago: whatever your starting point, your eyes are taken on … Continue reading On The Shore
Kodachrome
"They give us those nice bright colours, give us the greens of summers, makes you think all the world's a sunny day" There would have been a time when it would have been Kodachrome and a Nikon camera, but today as I walked through Huddersfield Open Market, all I needed was my smartphone. Oh Yeah!
The Church On The Hill
St Thomas's Church has stood out like some spiritual beacon looking down on industrial Halifax from the hilltop at Claremount since the 1860s. However, in the 1960s, it lost its spire, then its congregation, then its religious status and slowly began to fade behind the ever-spreading hillside woodland. My photo captured it about ten years … Continue reading The Church On The Hill
The Start Of The Parade
It was the start of the parade, down a cobbled street at the bottom of Halifax. Flanked by a car park of near vintage motors, backed by a hillside as bald as a Pennine coot, the wagons lined up ready for the annual Charity Gala parade. It was 1966, or maybe '67, or even '68. … Continue reading The Start Of The Parade
A Face For Three Centuries
In a small way, restoring old photographs is a bit like bringing people back to life. Rescuing faces, figures, stances, and backgrounds from the slow decay into faded, sepia obscurity is quietly satisfying. Just look at that face: formed in the nineteenth century, photographed in the twentieth, and restored in the twenty-first century.
Concrete And Graphite
What is it about West Yorkshire that I miss when I'm away? It's not so much the hills and the valleys; other places have hills and valleys. It must be those palaces of industry, the mills, and the shapes they create. Throw in a concrete road and a graphite sky, and you get something that, … Continue reading Concrete And Graphite
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