A Photographic Tale Of Several Wilkinsons

I have a new printer due to arrive today, so I spend a bit of time sorting out a suitable image to test it out with. Eventually I decided on this Victorian portrait of a young lady from the studio of a local photographer, Wilkinsons. A high resolution scan of the old Carte de Visite … Continue reading A Photographic Tale Of Several Wilkinsons

Count The Chimneys

When I was a lad, the school geography text book had a picture of Halifax, taken from somewhere near Godley Bridge, and the task was to count the mill chimneys. Whatever the answer was - I don't think I ever managed a full count - it proved that Halifax was a mill town. I took … Continue reading Count The Chimneys

Halifax, 1987

Like most other local photographers, I have always been drawn to Old Lane, Halifax, just for the privilege of walking in Bill Brandt's footsteps. No-one can match his classic 1930s images of the scene, so I have messed about with this 1980s effort of mine to provide a more colourful representation.

Dean Clough In Transition

I probably took this in the early 1980s at a time when the Dean Clough was about to start a journey of transition from a redundant carpet mill to the busy complex of offices, galleries, restaurants and bars we know today. I wonder what the horse would have made of it all?

Impressionism Please

I'd like to think of it as an experiment in impressionism, but, in fact, it was the result of a cheap camera, a badly focussed lens, a dark night, and a lot of rain. Those with long memories might recognise the shops around George Square, Halifax fifty years ago.

THREE CROSSINGS

I was attempting to follow the course of the Hebble Brook yesterday as it slunk its way under North Bridge before it gets lost deep beneath the Sainsbury's Car Park. During the course of my explorations I took this photograph which manages to capture three bridges over the anything but mighty river. The first is … Continue reading THREE CROSSINGS

From Novels To Nuptials To Turkey Red Twill

The reverse of this picture postcard of the thoroughly splendid Belle Vue in Halifax contains one of the very earliest examples of an on-line shopping order. “Please get me half a yard of Turkey-red twill” writes Lucy. Belle Vue is a building that many Halifax people of a certain age will be familiar with, as … Continue reading From Novels To Nuptials To Turkey Red Twill

History, Economics, And The Price Of A New Suit

This Halifax advert from 1922 proclaims “the pound buys more at Pinders this Spring!" Such words are unfamiliar to us living at a time when the pound buys less and less. But economics is a strange science - falling prices can be as bad as rising prices. My late, lamented Uncle Frank used to record … Continue reading History, Economics, And The Price Of A New Suit

Filter-Foolerings

This "image" of the old power station near North Bridge, Halifax is a version of a photograph I originally took over fifty-five years ago. I may well have featured this photograph before - if I was half the organised person I should be, I would know - and just in case I had, I thought … Continue reading Filter-Foolerings