Back in the 1960s, I would often perch on Godley Bridge and photograph the view towards Halifax. Even then, it echoed those famous scenes of the 1930s - all soot-black buildings and strident mill chimneys. Occasionally, I would turn around and take a photo looking the other way, towards the Shibden Valley - all dinky … Continue reading With My Back To The Town
Tag: Scanned Negatives
Messing About In The Market
This is based on an old photograph of mine of Brighouse market. I have subjected it to a whole series of filter-based interventions - in other words I've been messing with it. I quite like the outcome.
A Modicum Of Luck
Another example of what can be achieved through a combination of an unsophisticated camera, a semi-skilled photographer and a modicum of luck. I took this forty years ago - in Doncaster, I think - but you couldn’t do it these days: the all-too-smart camera would produce a perfect exposure and a forgettable image.
Breathless In Sheffield
The photograph is from more than forty years ago and shows the steps leading up to Fitzalan Square in Sheffield from Bakers Hill. In the early 1980s, I commuted by bus and train between Sheffield, where I lived, and Doncaster, where I worked. Many a night, I would race up those steps in a mad … Continue reading Breathless In Sheffield
That’s Life
Street scenes like this one - which I photographed in France half a century or so ago - are wonderful reflections of everyday life. Nobody is posing, and no Sunday best clothes are on display; all you have is life in all its variety and confusion. There is no subject, and that itself is the … Continue reading That’s Life
Long Time, Long Jump
I've been taking photographs for a long time. Here's one from sixty years ago, taken when I was still at school in Halifax. Some ran, some jumped, and others held the tape measure to see how far they had travelled. I just stood there and took photographs.
Exposed
Another of my Sheffield photos from the early 1980s. When using black-and-white film, cut out the grey middleman and concentrate on shapes and outlines - a fancy way of saying I didn’t get the exposure right!
Bruges Bronze
This was among some photographs of mine from the late 1980s, and I must confess that I had completely forgotten what it was or where I had taken it. A quick reverse image search provided the answer: "The image shows a historic bronze water pump spout in Bruges, Belgium, featuring a grotesque or Green Man … Continue reading Bruges Bronze
Night Shots
You need an old camera, slow film, and a decent downpour to get a good night shot. Modern digital cameras are hopeless: they sharpen the focus, bring up the shadows, and tone down the glare, leaving you with something about as dramatic as a soggy digestive biscuit. Luckily, when I took this photograph of Commercial … Continue reading Night Shots
