A strip of medium format negatives dating from the 1980s is the next to go on my scanning machine. I took these photographs whilst on a walk down Shaw Lane in Halifax, at a time of transition for the town. The last of the mills that had been at the heart of the economic and social life of the town […]
Slubbing Dyeing = The dyeing of textile fibres prior to spinning Melange Printing = Printing of textile fibres with bands of colour alternating with unprinted areas
A classic Halifax scene which has been recorded by many better photographers than I. The grey chimneys fading into the grey skies make good photographers of us all. I must have taken this photograph in 1970, back in the days when Dean Clough was still producing carpets by the acre. The great photographer Bill Brandt walked these same street forty […]
When Britannia is not ruling the waves she can be found overlooking Elland Bridge from her perch on top of the old Halifax and Huddersfield Bank building. In this 1970 photo from my archives she is snuggled between the chimney pots, ‘twixt trident and TV aerial.
A strip of five negatives which I took in 1970, at the time Burdock Way was under construction. The project involved substantial demolition work, and also some upgrading to the remaining property around the Gibbet Lane area. The final two shots on the strip were taken at Northowram and feature my mother, Gladys, and my father, Albert.
It is difficult to appreciate the scale of the construction of Burdock Way in Halifax from a modern perspective: new buildings have taken root, trees have filled the empty spaces, the highway has “bedded-in” to the local scenery. I must have taken this photograph in 1970, when construction had just started, and you almost get the feeling of a great […]
Houses that are superglued to the hillside: two storeys at the front, three at the back. From the top window you could see all the way to Wainhouse Tower – if it wasn’t for the mills in between.
There was a time when every street corner had its own chip shop: a healthier age, when folk walked for their take-aways.
SCANNED NEGATIVES : HALIFAX FROM THE SHIBDEN VALLEY (c1968) This is one of my photos from 50 years ago and shows Halifax from the Shibden Valley. The town seems to be spilling from the lip of some giant industrial cauldron, or nestling in a cradle of the arts. This particular photograph comes from a time when my brother, Roger, and […]
