My passion for collecting old photographs recognises few bounds, and a few years ago I managed to acquire a small collection of the original negatives of "stills" from British films from the 1940s and 50s. Such photographs were taken during filming in order to prepare the publicity photos that would be displayed outside cinemas. You … Continue reading Still Collecting
Tag: Calendar
Times Certainly Change
Getting somewhat annoyed the other day by some toxic pronouncement by a global potentate, I banged my fist down on my desk, and my smartwatch informed me that it looked as if I had taken a fall and that it would send for an emergency ambulance. Just think, sixty years ago I would have had … Continue reading Times Certainly Change
Sheffield Shapes
I took the photograph back in the early 1980s, and I messed around with it early yesterday. It snowed a lot back in the early '80s, and I wandered up and down the back streets of Sheffield taking photographs. It was the shapes that attracted me then, and they still attract me now. Sheffield shapes.
Any Lane
My photograph dates back to the early 1970s and shows one of those streets near the bottom of Lister Lane and Hopwood Lane in Halifax. The precise location doesn't matter - it could be any lane in almost any northern town: with cobbled streets and an obelisk of a mill chimney.
Street Photography
These days, this photograph would come under the heading of "Street Photography". When I took it over half a century ago, it came under the heading of "Using The Last Few Shots On A Film Up Before It Was Developed." These inconsequential shots of random scenes are always the most interesting when viewed from the … Continue reading Street Photography
Treasured Map
My brother contacted me from the other side of the world yesterday to suggest that my "monumental sculpture" photo was not taken in Sowerby Bridge. I have since been able to persuade him that it was. His memory of Sowerby Bridge and the Calder Valley is not what it used to be, so here is … Continue reading Treasured Map
Monumental Sculpture
One should be able to nominate buildings as items of monumental sculpture, thus ensuring their preservation not for what they contain, but simply for the way they look, the shape they make, and the emotions they engender. I would like to nominate this group of buildings in Sowerby Bridge. Let's pickle them in aspic and … Continue reading Monumental Sculpture
On The Slopes
Photography was made for groups. Get a group together - be it a group of friends, family, fellow workers, or ten-pin bowlers - and one of the first reactions is to get out a camera and record the moment for posterity. Group Photographs is one of the themes for this week's Sepia Saturday, and my … Continue reading On The Slopes
Picture History
My photo dates back to the 1960s and shows the junction of Cripplegate and Mulcture Hall Road in Halifax. There's a textbook-full of history in the buildings and a library's worth in the names of these two historic streets that run next to Halifax Minster. From healing wells to tolls for grinding corn, there's history … Continue reading Picture History
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