I've always admired the way that builders of mills and factories in these parts were never put off by an inconvenient hill. Industrial workplaces were often almost superglued to the sides of valleys - like Crawford-Swifts on Claremount Road, Halifax in this photo of mine from 35 years ago. Commercial premises of the modern era … Continue reading Industrial Superglue
Tag: Halifax
A Photographic Sports Jacket
Someone asked me the other day whether I had any photos of the Daily Tailors shop in Halifax - and going through my archives, I discovered I had one - or at least half of one (think of it as a photographic sports jacket rather than a suit). The photo must be one of my … Continue reading A Photographic Sports Jacket
Waiting For Change
Halifax as it was sixty years ago. If you compare and contrast it with Halifax as it is today, you will find that most of the structures are still in place - but the shops have changed, the signs have changed, the cars have changed, and you can no longer wait for 30 minutes. The … Continue reading Waiting For Change
If It Wasn’t For The Trees In-Between
Back in the 1950s, there was a school geography textbook which, in the section on urban geography, had a picture of Halifax, and pupils were encouraged to count the number of mill chimneys. My photo was taken a decade later, but you could still make a decent counting exercise out of it. These days you … Continue reading If It Wasn’t For The Trees In-Between
Cauldron Lip
If you follow Howes Lane from Northowram to the point when it overlooks the Shibden Valley, you can get wonderful views across that valley towards Halifax. The industry, the heat, the life, and the movement of the town seem to spill over into the quiet valley. I have photographed this cauldron lip many times over … Continue reading Cauldron Lip
My Little Town
This is one of my favourite photographs from my walks around Halifax 55 years ago. When I took it, did I think I was capturing a world that was vanishing - a world of cobbled streets, gas lights and soot-stained stone terraces - or did I simply see it as an interesting composition? In truth, … Continue reading My Little Town
Fun With Pinky And Perky
The Halifax Charity Gala parade some sixty years ago. There was a lack of sophistication and a fair amount of amateurishness in terms of costume design, but they are fun to look back at now. My photographs at the time demonstrates a lack of sophistication and more than a fair amount of amateurishness, but they … Continue reading Fun With Pinky And Perky
Bobbin-Ligging
Holmfield Mill in Halifax - a photograph I must have taken in the late 1960s or early 70s. I had a summer job there at about that time, working as a "bobbin-ligger" - collecting used bobbins from around the mill and stacking them in pointless piles.
Kind Of Blue
The colour isn't particularly real - I must have added it at some stage in the fifty or so years since I took the original photograph. We tend, however, to think of Halifax back in the '60s and '70s in terms of black and white, forgetting that the mill-ponds could occasionally reflect blue skies. You … Continue reading Kind Of Blue
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