Fading Into Vagueness

I can just about remember taking this photograph, which is not bad as it was more than half a century ago. I was standing at Stump Cross looking up Godley Lane towards Halifax. I can't remember why I took it, however, such detail fades into vagueness - just like the photo.

The King Of Corsica

A photograph of mine from the best part of fifty years ago. Behind the market stalls you can see what was then the King Of Corsica public house, named after the German adventurer, Theodore von Neuhoff, who for a short while was the King Of Corsica before falling into poverty and moving to Soho in … Continue reading The King Of Corsica

Considering The Task

At least one of my regular followers will recognise the location of this photograph and will probably be able to be more precise about the date. It might appear that my wife was considering the task at hand - that task being a bit of gardening. But no, she will have been reading her revision … Continue reading Considering The Task

Back Yard

Continuing the unintended theme, we move from back street to back yard. I'm almost certain this particular back yard was in Sheffield, but I can't remember whose it was! No conceptual artist could have put together a collection of bins, fences and drainpipes with greater skill.

Paris, Halifax

Another of my photos from that walk down Boys Lane, Halifax forty-odd years ago. The wonderful Shears Inn is still going strong and always well worth a visit. Paris Gates sounds a romantic location, but I understand it was originally known as the slightly more prosaic "Parish Gates".

Muck, Soot And Industry

Other places commission large-scale public sculptural projects, be they Kelpies, Angels or cast iron paddlers on Crosby sands. We don't need them here in Halifax, we still have a host of monumental obelisks in praise of muck, steam, soot and industry. Halifax shapes.

The Summer Of ’68

It was the summer of 1968 and the world was changing. Student protests were sweeping Europe and three students packed their rucksacks and set off in search of adventure. Their passion for protest sank into the muddy ground of a camp site just outside Amsterdam. The passion for change of at least one of the … Continue reading The Summer Of ’68

Happy Times

This photograph of Sheffield was taken some 40 years ago when we lived there. It was a bright, bustling place, full of people and lights and a good deal of happiness. If this photo is anything to go by, it also had its fare share of buses. Happy times.

It’s Halifax

I must have taken the original photograph about thirty years ago, although this version of it dates from last night. It's a familiar scene: a mixture of concrete and stone, cast iron and barbed wire, chapels and mill chimneys, It's Halifax.