Colour And Movement

Another shot from the same strip of negatives taken at the Halifax Charity Gala in Manor Heath in the mid 1960s. Even though the photograph is in monochrome, it is somehow full of colour: even though it is a still, it is somehow full of movement. I can't remember what they called this kind of … Continue reading Colour And Movement

A Prize Shot

This is from a strip of six negatives from the mid 1960s. The photographs were taken, as far as I can remember, at the Halifax Gala in Manor Heath. I may have featured some of these photographs before, I can't remember, but they are probably worth a second outing. The first of the six photographs … Continue reading A Prize Shot

Home 10 : The Abattoir And Cart

We hear a lot these days about the changing nature of town and city centres, but the centre of gravity of our conurbations has never been static. I took this photograph over fifty years ago from the waste land at the bottom of Woolshops in Halifax. Widespread demolition had already swept through the narrow streets, … Continue reading Home 10 : The Abattoir And Cart

Away 2 : Boating Under The Pier

Boating under the pier is prohibited. So is swimming in the birdbath, cycling down the drainpipe, and painting your toenails in the coal cellar. But, when liberty returns to the world, we will be able to board cruise ships for trips under the great piers of Britain.

Away 1 : Fish And Chips On The Front

AWAY 1 : There used to be home and away. Home was where you lived fifty-one weeks of the year. Away was your week at the seaside.  This, however, was quite a late shot: the give away is that the fish and chips are in polystyrene boxes. By the 1980s, away was more likely to … Continue reading Away 1 : Fish And Chips On The Front

Pain And Suffering In Downtown Halifax Part II

This was one of the first posts I ever put up on my blog, I posted it fifteen years ago in 2006. It came to mind because .... this morning started with a visit to the dentist! Actually, in the intervening fifteen years the dentist has moved, even closer to the town centre. Whist waiting … Continue reading Pain And Suffering In Downtown Halifax Part II

Reclining Figure, Halifax 1970

One of the least known of Henry Moore's monumental sculptures is his 1970 Reclining Figure which has been on permanent display in Halifax for the last fifty years. In order to overcome the civic antipathy to major arts projects, Moore cleverly disguised the sculpture as an overpass.

Limited Intelligence

One can't avoid being impressed by how well Artificial Intelligence (AI) copes with the automated colourisation of old black and white photographs. Take, for example, this photograph of a back street in Burslem, North Staffordshire, which I took in the early 1970s when I was living in that part of the world. The negative was … Continue reading Limited Intelligence

Memories Within Cardboard Confines

Is it just age that makes you far more susceptible to time travel? Sometimes it can be a word like advocaat, sometimes a pattern like the geometric madness of 1960s wallpapers; most times it is an image.  These two photographs were taken at a Christmas Party at my parent's house, sometime around 1965. They are … Continue reading Memories Within Cardboard Confines