DRONING ON ABOUT SHEFFIELD

I must have taken this photograph from high up in one of the block of flats in Upperthorpe, Sheffield, forty-odd years ago. Back in those days I couldn't pass a block of flats - and there were many to choose from in Sheffield in the 70s and 80s - without climbing the concrete stairs to … Continue reading DRONING ON ABOUT SHEFFIELD

MINING FOR COAL AND A WARM BATH

I came across an illustration the other day of two children being hauled up a mineshaft. After a little research I discovered that not only was the illustration a “real” record of two actual named children, but even more surprisingly, it was based on the practices at a coal mine just a few miles away … Continue reading MINING FOR COAL AND A WARM BATH

WALKING SNAPS

I do love what used to be called back in the middle of the twentieth century “walking snaps”. These candid photographs catch people unposed and unprepared. In an age when there seems to be a camera grafted into every piece of electronic equipment, this may not seem like any great achievement, we grow tired of … Continue reading WALKING SNAPS

THE DOGCART AND THE FLY

An early twentieth century picture postcard of The Moor in Halifax. It is a view I became very familiar with half a century after this postcard was first published. The fine looking building on the left of the view is my old school - the old Crossley and Porter Orphanage School (it had dropped the … Continue reading THE DOGCART AND THE FLY

UNDER THE BRIDGE

Like anyone else, I can see the beauty in a natural landscape. Find me a photograph of craggy hills sweeping down to mirror-smooth lakes and I will swoon with the best of them. Get me a picture of ripe-rich grain swaying in an evening breeze against a bucolic green background, and I will pin it … Continue reading UNDER THE BRIDGE

THREE VERSIONS OF UNREALITY

A family group: - a distant family connection I suspect as they are far too posh for any branch of the family I know of. The first version was as the print now appears - fading into a sepia memory. The second version restores it to, what was probably, the original black and white. Version … Continue reading THREE VERSIONS OF UNREALITY

Portrait Of An Unknown Man With Hair

Let me start by saying that I have no idea who this is. Neither do I know how it came into my possession. Whatever the story of its life as a photograph - from Victorian studio to the box in the corner of my room marked "Found Photos" - it surely pales into insignificance compared … Continue reading Portrait Of An Unknown Man With Hair

Tall And Short

You can see how this photograph came about, you can read the mind of the photographer - big and small, tall and short, contrasts ... or whatever. The really intriguing question is who are these five men and could they possibly be related. There are some facial similarities, but surely the gene pool couldn't be … Continue reading Tall And Short

Sepia Pointillism

I am told that this is a photograph of my mother-in-law, Edith, with her nephew Edward. The thing that struck me about it was not so much the subjects, but the combined effect of age-related fading and the stipple paper the photo was printed on. Together they have created a kind of "sepia pointillism" which … Continue reading Sepia Pointillism