As a young man I briefly had a beard. Sadly, it never flourished and it resembled more of a mossy outcrop rather than the fibrous forest attached to the chin of the Victorian gent featured in this Carte-de-visite from my collection which dates from the 1870s
Inconsequential Photographs
You can't beat inconsequential photographs: photos without any great meaning or purpose. You can wander around them at leisure, stopping off to look at half a car here or a faded billboard there. You can ask questions without the need of answers - what is that train doing in the middle of the road? Uncle … Continue reading Inconsequential Photographs
Friday The 13th
If you want something to take your mind off the fact that it is Friday the 13th, and if you are familiar with Halifax, you can try and work out when this picture was taken. You can make use of all the usual clues: the degree of forestation on Beacon Hill, the absence of cooling … Continue reading Friday The 13th
ILOVEOLDPHOTOS
This is another scan from the "Big Album" of prints from an unknown German photographer and dating from the mid-1920s. If I continue scanning and sharing these photos at my current rate, I estimate I should have worked my way through the entire album by Easter 2027. #iloveoldphotos
How A Bad Feeling Turned Into A Good Feeling In Downtown Halifax
I remember taking this photograph a few years ago. At first, I had a bit of a bad feeling about it. As I entered the very long, very dark and very deserted old walkway under the railway line at the bottom end of Halifax, there was a young bloke in a hoody walking a very … Continue reading How A Bad Feeling Turned Into A Good Feeling In Downtown Halifax
Love’s Cigarette!
I have a small collection of sheet music I inherited from my Uncle Harry (or “poor Uncle Harry” as he was always referred to in the family but that is another story best left until after the watershed) and I dipped into that to find something suitably uplifting. In amongst his music is a small … Continue reading Love’s Cigarette!
Solid (In A Liquid Sort Of Way)
The Hebble Brook is a funny old thing. It's not in your face, showy, or boastful; in fact, it prefers to keep itself hidden away as far as possible. It makes few demands: a concrete bridge here and there, the odd culvert or two. It just goes on doing its job, carrying water from up … Continue reading Solid (In A Liquid Sort Of Way)
A Paper Portal To The Past
If there is one thing you would have needed in 1919, it is a bit of a tonic. The memories of the carnage on the fields of Flanders are still raw, and the influenza epidemic is now picking off many of the people who survived. So this old photographic postcard from exactly 100 years ago … Continue reading A Paper Portal To The Past
Auntie Annie
Annie Elizabeth was born in February 1903, the second daughter of my grandparents Enoch and Harriet Burnett. Like all young working class girls born in Bradford at the start of the twentieth century she was destined for the mill - Bradford was regarded as the world centre of the worsted industry - and she will … Continue reading Auntie Annie
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