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
Tag: Old Photographs
Home 2 : Bank Bottom, Halifax
The second picture in my "Home" collection is this photograph of Bank Bottom, Halifax, which I took somewhere around 1970. Square Church spire is framed by the old Riding Hall Carpet Mill and the Halifax Gas Works. If you would like to see this picture in person, it is currently on view as part of … Continue reading Home 2 : Bank Bottom, Halifax
Market Days
By chance, because my negatives are filed with the logic of a Trumpian tweet, another group of shots featuring Halifax Borough Market came to the top of the scanning pile. These are from the 1960s: the advent of decimalisation was a Godsend for picture daters. Pictures of the market always seem to be popular - … Continue reading Market Days
The Age Of The Smile
Photograph Of Unknown Family - 1920s/30s Smiles - smiles on photos, at least - were a twentieth century invention: smiles on the faces of the subjects of Victorian photographic portraits are as rare as Trumpian truths. The reason was partly that Victorian cameras could only cope with fixed expressions - but it was also partly … Continue reading The Age Of The Smile
Cruising Faces
I am not sure where this little print came from - no doubt it was part of some job lot of old photographs I bought. It shows the crowded deck of a boat, and must have been taken at some point in the 1920s. It could be a ferry, but the people seem a little … Continue reading Cruising Faces
Oaks And Stone
PICTURES FROM NOWHERE : OAKS AND STONE, RUPERRA, 7th APRIL 1932 An old photograph of a young man walking near Ruperra Castle in Wales in 1932. The photo is entitled "Oaks and Stone", but that poetic title is the extent of my knowledge. This is a print from a tiny album of photographs taken in … Continue reading Oaks And Stone
The Confidence Of Post-War Youth
My first thoughts about this studio photograph of an unknown young woman was that it might have been taken during the Great War. There is a confidence about her - the kind of confidence which came from women working in the factories and workshops, a confidence that somehow rose above the dangers of the workplace … Continue reading The Confidence Of Post-War Youth
Round Hats And Tightly Bobbed Hair
There is a short caption on the reverse of this small print, and it suggests that the photograph was taken in Ramsgate in July 1934. I am no expert on women's fashion, but the 1934 date seems about right for this somewhat distinctive dress. Just looking at the heads on show and I might have … Continue reading Round Hats And Tightly Bobbed Hair
What’s In Store?
This is a scan of a quarter-plate glass negative which must date from the end of the nineteenth or early twentieth century. The seven featured subjects are an interesting collection: they could be the staff of a draper's shop or a saloon bar. There is something vaguely H G Wells about them - that might … Continue reading What’s In Store?
