Life On Board

Having just returned from a fortnight on board a ship travelling around the Caribbean, I chanced upon an old photograph I took 40 years ago on board, I suspect, a cross channel ferry. I decided to let loose artificial intelligence on the original, slightly boring, negative, and this is what it came up with. It's … Continue reading Life On Board

Home

I'm home again. All that travelling is very nice: good for the soul and good for the spirit, but it isn't home. It isn't Yorkshire stone, Yorkshire mills and Yorkshire monuments. It isn't rain-rich trees and smoke-grained walls and folk that share a heritage. It isn't Halifax.

Caribbean Memories

Photographs are memories fixed onto paper, or should I say in this modern age, fixed onto a computer or smartphone screen. We're back from holiday and I have brought with me a new stock of memories which will join the 93,786 already residing on my hard drive. One or two might make my way onto … Continue reading Caribbean Memories

Halifax Town Hall

There is, of course, nothing "natural" about black and white photographs - they are about as fake as a Trumpian truth. They do however - B&W photos, not Trump - allow you to concentrate on shapes and lines and not get distracted by the extravagance of colour. Thus, the splendid Halifax Town Hall from Broadway … Continue reading Halifax Town Hall

No Escape

I took this photograph on Akroyd Place, Halifax. There clearly is no escape. Almost seventy years ago, just behind this building, there were some old swimming baths which we would be taken to, by bus, from our Junior School for swimming lessons. At the time, not being able to swim, I used to dread these … Continue reading No Escape

Chapman’s Bike

The photograph forms part of a box full of family photographs that may (or may not) feature the family of my grandfathers' brother, Albert Burnett (1884-1963). On the back of the photograph is written: "Mr Chapman, 2 Maze Street, Barton Hill". Barton Hill is part of the modern-day city of Bristol. I have absolutely no … Continue reading Chapman’s Bike

Halifax De Luxe

One of the great delights of that stage in life known as retirement is that you can - within reason - do what you want and go where you want to. There does not need top be an objective to a journey nor a point to an activity. You can get on the first bus … Continue reading Halifax De Luxe

Accidental Beacons

This image is the result of two accidents 50 odd years apart. The first took place when I developed the film shortly after taking this photograph back in the 1960s - light must have got into the developing tank and the grass around this path on Beacon Hill, Halifax was bleached of its fifty shades … Continue reading Accidental Beacons

Seven Views Of Halifax

This card is yet another example of the popular “multi-view” cards that were produced during the early years of the twentieth century. Postcard publishers were fond of this approach, as it allowed them to republish existing images with the simple addition of a coat of arms or similar device. I think I have all seven … Continue reading Seven Views Of Halifax