In a small way, restoring old photographs is a bit like bringing people back to life. Rescuing faces, figures, stances, and backgrounds from the slow decay into faded, sepia obscurity is quietly satisfying. Just look at that face: formed in the nineteenth century, photographed in the twentieth, and restored in the twenty-first century.
Category: Picture Post
Electric Beauty
Built in 1909, Brighouse's Electricity Works, which is situated on the main Bradford to Huddersfield Road immediately next to the canal, is a functional structure built with a Yorkshire faith in substance over style. The exception is the small stone date plaque, which matches in Art Nouveau elegance anything that can be found on the … Continue reading Electric Beauty
Glory, Side-On
I walked past Bethesda Church in Elland the other day. I must have passed it by a thousand times before without pausing to look and appreciate its fine features. Designed by William Hill of Leeds - the architect of some beautiful town halls including those in Bolton, Yeadon and Portsmouth - and built in 1879-80, … Continue reading Glory, Side-On
Picturesque Scenes
Driving through the Yorkshire Dales last weekend, you didn't have to seek out picturesque scenes, they formed disorderly queues in order to present themselves to you. Around almost every corner would be a history-steeped bridge over a stone-stepped brook, flanked by pubs that would tempt a Son of Temperance. This example was in the village … Continue reading Picturesque Scenes
Shadow Boxing
Last weekend I drove south through the Yorkshire Dales National Park on a day when the sun and the clouds promoted shadow boxing matches between the moors and hills. Unable to stop and take the photograph I sensed was waiting to be taken, I had to wait until I got home and play around with … Continue reading Shadow Boxing
Huddersfield Piazza
I'm not sure how Huddersfield got a Piazza - it might have been near the end of a too-long Planning Committee meeting, it might have been a joke, and it was probably wishful thinking. But why shouldn't the town have a piazza if it wants one? Let it be filled with shops, and people, and … Continue reading Huddersfield Piazza
Mrs Foggin’s Bust
This is a scan of one of the Victorian prints I bought - for pence rather than pounds - when I was in Newcastle recently. On the back is a label headed "The Great Britain Art Co" with a name, Mrs R J Foggin, and a set of instructions for reprinting: "As copy, not so … Continue reading Mrs Foggin’s Bust
Visual Toothache
I took the photograph that was the start of this image the other day as I wandered around Halifax waiting for my dental appointment. Since then, I have poked and prodded it, scraped and flossed it, and finished up with something which is quite pleasant to look at. Not sure you can say the same … Continue reading Visual Toothache
Selo – The Fast Film
I went digging in one of the endless boxes of old photographs that are slowly taking over our house and came up with not a photograph, but a colourful envelope used to deliver negatives and prints back in the 1930s. Oh, you digital slaves of Smarty McSmart phones, you don't know what you are missing … Continue reading Selo – The Fast Film
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