The Build Up

To be honest, I don't remember taking this photograph, but it remains one of my favourite shots of my hometown. Surrounded by hills, Halifax has always built upward: stone needles of mill chimneys, ornate church spires, and concrete-clad boxes of apartments. Scenes like this were made for black and white - colour had no place … Continue reading The Build Up

I Was Nearly Kilt Last Night

"We got away for a few days. The weather is lovely. I was nearly kilt last night climbing hills. This is just at the top where we live". A brief explanation of the message on this old postcard may be necessary. The word "kilt" is a northern expression meaning "killed". The hill in question is Salterhebble … Continue reading I Was Nearly Kilt Last Night

The Beauty Of Shape

What better way to start the second half of the year than with this photograph I took over half a century ago? I'm not sure what went through my mind when I took it, but it has turned out to be one of my favourite photos - part exercise in scale, part composition in grey, … Continue reading The Beauty Of Shape

In Halifax

I'm pretty certain that this photograph - taken well over 50 years ago - was taken somewhere in Halifax. It has all the necessary ingredients: an overgrown, stone-cobbled lane rising up a steep hillside to meet a soot-blackened wall of monumental proportions. It's probably so obviously Halifax that, at no time over the last half … Continue reading In Halifax

A Heated Basin

We are living through record heatwaves here in the UK at the moment, experiencing temperatures that make you want to find a cool stretch of water and take the plunge. I took today's photograph in Brighouse Canal Basin well over half a century ago, when it was surrounded by gasworks and endless, rundown factories. You … Continue reading A Heated Basin

The Swinging Sixties

The summers of my youth, when the most avant-garde experience might have been listening to a trad-jazz combo in the park. And if the sun was shining, they might even hang their jackets up and perform in their shirt sleeves. Ah, the swinging sixties.

Shibden Gate

There is always a temptation to submit images that don't pass the pinpoint definition test - or that fail short of the standard for clarity and contrast - to some AI controlled filter that promises "crystal clear pictures that look like they were taken yesterday!" I didn't take this photo of the Shibden valley near … Continue reading Shibden Gate

Looking Down

The photograph is one of dozens I've taken of Halifax from the top of Beacon Hill over the years. This particular one dates from the early 1970s. Sometimes, however, I'd been blessed with the ability to draw so I could have captured the view's magical detail. Fear not: artificial intelligence enables dreams to come true … Continue reading Looking Down

It Was Never So

This image comes from a 120 year old picture postcard of Halifax, and it is about as fake as any modern AI generated concoction. The colours have been painted in with all the skill of an arthritic canary, and the figures appear to have been randomly stuck on with haste as well as paste. Such … Continue reading It Was Never So