I like to think that, when Bill Brandt walked up Old Lane in Halifax in 1937, he took his famous Snicket in Halifax photo. He then climbed to the top of the steps leading to the railway bridge and took his equally famous Halifax photo. After walking down the other side, he turned and cursed … Continue reading The End Of The Film
Tag: Scanned Negatives
Halifax – New York – Halifax
Where can you find Halifax in New York? The answer is on the fifth floor of the Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street. There, you will find a copy of Bill Brandt’s 1937 photograph, Halifax - a clear indication that it is regarded as one of the finest twentieth-century photographs. My interpretation, taken … Continue reading Halifax – New York – Halifax
In The Steps Of Genius
Old Lane in Halifax was the setting for two of the finest photographs of the twentieth century. The fourth frame on my forty-year-old strip of negatives is my rather mediocre recreation of Bill Brandt’s magnificent 1937 photograph, Snicket in Halifax. The original is easy to find online, and it is worth noting that little had … Continue reading In The Steps Of Genius
Halifax
Bridge over bridge, concrete over iron, set against a hillside as old as time. Over my nearly eight decades, I’ve travelled widely, but Halifax was, is, and will remain my greatest source of inspiration. This is the third photograph from that strip of negatives taken forty years ago.
Bus On A Bridge
The second image in my strip of six negatives, taken 40 years ago, shows a bus on a bridge. The bridge is, of course, Burdock Way in Halifax. If you look closely, you may see that the bus is advertising even more local editions of the local newspaper. Forty years later, the photograph would have … Continue reading Bus On A Bridge
Lest we Forget
Lest we forget the days when images were chemical stains on translucent cellulose acetate, and photographic imagination was limited by the number of frames left on a roll of film. This week, I am limiting myself to a single strip of six negatives, all exposed around Halifax some forty years ago. The first image is, … Continue reading Lest we Forget
The Mist Of Time
Those who know the town of Brighouse can have fun with this picture - which I must have taken sixty or so years ago - trying to work out where I took it from and what the various buildings, fading into the post-industrial mist of time, are. Many have now gone, and most of those … Continue reading The Mist Of Time
Standing On The Edge
It seems so long ago - almost another age. The colours and styles may have changed, but then, as now, we stood on the edge and looked out.
Bare Beacon
When I look back at the pictures I took of Halifax in the 1960s and ’70s - the town I have always considered home - several things stand out. The town had a greyness then that went beyond an over-reliance on monochrome photography. There were still plenty of mill chimneys breaking up the skyline. Most … Continue reading Bare Beacon
