This lovely lady appears on the second of the ten Victorian photographs I bought whilst I was up in Whitley Bay. The only clue to her identity is a pencilled caption on the reverse of the photograph stating "Mother When Young". Try taking a photo like that on your smartphone!
Patterns In The Street
There's enough scrap iron visible in this photo of mine from the late '60s or early '70s to keep a Scunthorpe blast furnace busy. It was taken looking down Blackledge, Halifax, towards Beacon Hill in the background. These days, the stone has been cleaned up, and there is half a forest lining the hillside. The … Continue reading Patterns In The Street
Northern Perspectives
With the hills and valleys around these parts you can position yourself on top of a hill and make eyes at the next hill. The towers and chimneys, factories and offices, that populate the valleys fall into perspective, becoming support acts to the beauty of raw nature.
A Walk On The Pier
This picture of my grandparents walking along some seaside pier was taken, as far as I know, in the summer of the year peace returned to Europe. My grandmother looks almost penguin-like in her stance, but she is clearly happy. Enoch, my grandfather, looks distracted and strangely divorced from the seaside merriment. Within three years, … Continue reading A Walk On The Pier
Truncated In Elland
As Saddleworth Road runs into the town of Elland, there is a strange outcrop of trees sprouting out of the tops of truncated mill chimneys. This phenomenon is unique to this area and biologists travel from around the world to witness it. My 1980s photo captures it at an early stage of development, but I … Continue reading Truncated In Elland
Nine From The Tyne
I used to call this feature "Twelve From ...", but what with tariffs and trade wars, it will have to be "Nine from ..." until further notice. This, therefore, is nine photographs from last week, or Nine From The Tyne.
A Pre-Burdock Prospect
Scanning some of my old negatives from fifty-plus years ago, I come across one I haven't featured before. You could run an entire pub quiz for folk of a certain age who grew up in the Halifax area on this image alone. It is pre-Burdock (as we say in these parts) but only just so: … Continue reading A Pre-Burdock Prospect
Mrs Hall Of Newsham
Whilst in Whitley Bay, I found a rather good second-hand shop with a small selection of Victorian photographs for sale. The price negotiation was complicated by my profound deafness and the shop-owner's challenging regional accent, but a price was eventually arrived at. Here is the first of the ten photographs I bought. A pencilled caption … Continue reading Mrs Hall Of Newsham
Home Again
Home again. Home to the hills and the mills, home to the stone and the sets. The scale of Newcastle was grand, but perhaps a little too grand. I like to see fields at the end of streets and moors on the distant horizon. It's good to be home.
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