One is tempted to go on about the fall of Parliament, but this is merely the fall of Parliament Street, which was between Gibbet Street and Pellon Lane in Halifax. I must have taken this photograph in the late 1960s or early 70s after the houses had been cleared and before they vanished forever, to … Continue reading Home Bargains
Category: Calendar
The Delivery
This photo comes from one of the piles of photographs of unknown origin which are gradually taking over my room: my Found Photographs. It shows a man with a horse and cart delivering what I assume is milk. I have no idea where or when it was taken, but that doesn't matter; it is life … Continue reading The Delivery
New Month, New Interpretation
The start of a new month and the start of a new season (meteorologically speaking). Here is a new interpretation of a photograph I originally took some 16 years ago of Shepherds Thorn Lane where I have walked a succession of dogs over the last twenty-five years. New month, new interpretation - same old beauty.
Halifax Faces
Towards the end of the 19th century, most towns would have at least one professional photographer's studio. It was a time when ordinary people began to have their photos taken, and such photographs - in the form of small "carte de visites" or slightly larger "cabinet cards" - became family treasures. The studios were keen … Continue reading Halifax Faces
Antiquity And Modernity
I seem to remember - although it was almost sixty years ago - I was trying to capture the contrast between the antiquity of the statues in People's Park, Halifax, and the modernity of what was then Percival Whitley College in the background. Now the bits of that building that remain within the shell of … Continue reading Antiquity And Modernity
Torre Del Grimsby
Many famous public buildings in both Europe and America have been copies of the wonderful 14th century Torre del Mangia in Sienna, Italy, but one of the most surprising perhaps, is the Grimsby Dock Tower. The 19th century tower was built to accommodate the 30,000 gallons of water required to power the hydraulic machinery in … Continue reading Torre Del Grimsby
Capturing Etruria
Old strips of negatives can be wonderfully evocative because they provide context as well as individual images. This strip of 35mm monochrome images of mine dates back to the early 1970s when I was at university in Keele and would frequently escape the rigors of macroeconomic theory by wandering the byways of the neighbouring five … Continue reading Capturing Etruria
Atlas
You know what it's like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Here's Atlas - courtesy of Elisabeth Frink - just outside the Weston Gallery at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Yesterday, the February sun shone down and all of a sudden so much of that weight was taken away.
Monochrome Home
There is something about old black and white photographs - the way they flatten and simplify scenes; the way they mask so much and reveal even more. I'm sure we saw scenes in black and white as soon as we looked through the viewfinder back in those days - we had monochrome eyes. Colour was … Continue reading Monochrome Home
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