I took this photo 50+ years ago. I never printed it, it somehow didn’t seem worth the paper. From a technical point of view, it hasn’t improved with time, but it has become more resonant. It speaks of the past - of headscarves and unwashed spuds.
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Halfway To Paradise
You’ve got to have a certain sense of humour to name a street “Paradise Street”. You might just get away with it with a row of mansions overlooking a sun-drenched beach in the Caribbean: but not a back street in Halifax. But who knows, a house to live in and a cobbled street to park … Continue reading Halfway To Paradise
Picturesque Halifax
This picture postcard dates from 1918 and is entitled "Picturesque Halifax" although I am not convinced the five photographs live up to that billing. Maybe it is the sepia patina, maybe it is changing perceptions of what is "picturesque", I find it difficult, however, to get excited by Cote Hill or Ogden Reservoir. To celebrate … Continue reading Picturesque Halifax
Under The Clock
An early colour photograph of mine (note the pre-decimal currency) and one where the exposure left a lot to be desired. What it lacks in technique it makes up a little for in atmosphere and in the light from the windows of that cathedral of commerce that was Halifax's Borough Market.
Beautiful Building
Surrounded as we are by beautiful buildings, we sometimes take them for granted. So, the next time you walk through Halifax, pause for a moment and look up at the former Calder and Hebble Navigation Office at the corner of Southate and Alexandra Street. Look up and say, “You’re really quite beautiful, you know”.
A Very Safe Building
Horton House in Halifax now has a sign proclaiming “Unsafe Building - Do Not Enter”. What a reverse for this fine building that once was the school clinic where generations of Halifax children were inoculated against deadly diseases. It was then, a very safe building indeed.
Blackledge
By tracing the route I must have taken 53 years ago, I suspect I was in Blackledge, just outside the Halifax Piece Hall, when I took this. The pile of old metal may have been an art installation - but more likely was left over from the demolition of the wholesale market.
A Walk Down Russel Street
As I scan my way through a strip of old negatives, I am constantly amending decisions I have made about when and where some of the photographs were taken. Many of these negatives are over fifty years old, and over the years they have gathered their own collection of scratches, dust spots and blemishes. I … Continue reading A Walk Down Russel Street
Man At A Bus Stop (The AI Wars)
I received an invitation to give Adobe Firefly - their new Artificial Intelligence generated creative system - a try, and at the same time I was trying to work out what to do with a rather tired old photograph I took almost sixty years ago. The photograph was taken in Halifax and shows a bus … Continue reading Man At A Bus Stop (The AI Wars)
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