There is a real pleasure in finding an old photograph - in this case probably more than 125 years old - which is fading into obscurity and being scratched and torn towards extinction, and rescuing it and sharing it. It doesn't matter that you don't know who she is - I don't either - what … Continue reading Something Near Life
Tag: Victorian Photographs
Faces Of Halifax
This is another from my "Faces Of Halifax" series - Victorian and Edwardian portraits created by Halifax photographic studios. This couple visited the studio of E Greaves on Silver Street, Halifax towards the end of the nineteenth century to have their likeness captured, and what a stunning likeness it is. This is the Victorian equivalent … Continue reading Faces Of Halifax
Halifax Faces
Towards the end of the 19th century, most towns would have at least one professional photographer's studio. It was a time when ordinary people began to have their photos taken, and such photographs - in the form of small "carte de visites" or slightly larger "cabinet cards" - became family treasures. The studios were keen … Continue reading Halifax Faces
COPIES ALWAYS AVAILABLE
On the back of this Victorian Carte de Visite which came from the Birmingham studio of the photographer W Baker, it states "Negatives kept, copies always available". There is also a reference number (15073). If you're listening Mr Baker, I'd quite like a copy of the original. And just in case he's not listening, I've … Continue reading COPIES ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Mary The Beekeeper And The Flight Of Fancy Simulator
The thing about playing around with old, lost and forgotten photographs is that it provides a vigorous workout for the imagination. It is like a well equipped gym of thoughtfulness set inside a state of the art flight of fancy simulator. You can look at a picture that stopped time a century or more ago … Continue reading Mary The Beekeeper And The Flight Of Fancy Simulator
Kate
This is a photograph of my grandmother, Kate Kellam, which must have been taken sometime around 1900, a few years before she married my grandfather, Albert Beanland. Catherine, who was always known as Kate, was born in the small town of Morcott, in Rutland in March 1877, to Albert and Catherine Kellam, and whilst she … Continue reading Kate
Letters Patent For Artistic Improvement
According to the scrawled date on the reverse of this Victorian Cabinet Card, it was taken somewhere around the 11th November 1889. The clothing and the photographic style fits well with this date, and we know that the studio - Brown, Barnes & Bell of Liverpool and London - were active at the time. The … Continue reading Letters Patent For Artistic Improvement
John Shaw And The Photographic Bandwagon
This rather stern looking lady was captured by the Heckmondwike studio of John S Shaw. John Shaw was born near Halifax in 1815, and for most of his working life was a farmer in Staffordshire. Only when he was in his sixties to he return to his native West Yorkshire to climb aboard the commercial … Continue reading John Shaw And The Photographic Bandwagon
Fancy Goods And Photographs
In Search Of Edward Gregson Part 2 My research into the life and times of Edward Gregson, photographer, of Halifax and Blackpool is both illogical and unstructured: flitting between odd facts and unrelated times, and punctuated by portraits of anonymous Victorian worthies. It is a journey of discovery in which gazing out of the window … Continue reading Fancy Goods And Photographs
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