Bank Holiday Monday

 

The wind and the rain have finally cleared, so I no longer have to rely on old photographs for my daily calendar. Happy Easter, everyone.

Wind In The Straits

 

Visited the Menai Straits and wanted to take a photograph, but the wind was so strong it blew my tripod over. So here is one I took earlier - eleven years earlier to be exact.

Earlier In Beaumaris

 

Went to Beaumaris. It was raining so I couldn’t manage a photograph. Here’s one I took earlier.

Here's One I Took Earlier

 

Gone to Wales. Not got there yet. So here's a picture I took earlier. Fifty-nine years earlier in fact.

Albert And The Machine

 

The photograph was taken 70 years ago at Mackintosh's factory in Halifax. It shows a group of mechanics and engineers proudly gathered around the latest wrapping machine they have installed. My father, Albert, appears to be the proudest of the lot (seated just to the left of centre). The machine looks like it could launch a rocket; in fact it could wrap a strawberry delight or a toffee finger.

Cathedral Of Commerce

 

An early colour photograph of mine (note the pre-decimal currency) and one where the exposure left a lot to be desired. What it lacks in technique, it makes up a little for in atmosphere and in the light from the windows of that cathedral of commerce, Halifax's Borough Market.

The Valley

 

I half painted this picture, which I am calling "The Valley." It was an exercise I undertook with the grandchildren to try and avoid the dreaded screen-time, and their paintings - even the two-year-old's - were far better than mine. So I cheated: I photographed the pre-primitive "Art Brut" and set to work with some Photoshop filters. The result will see out March, if nothing else.

Forever Gaumont

 

To me, it is, and has always been, the Gaumont Cinema. It’s had other names and been other things, but even today I would probably still refer to it as the Gaumont. The surprising thing is that it has only had that name for a comparatively short period of its 113 year history; for just twelve years from 1948 until 1960. The other surprising thing is that it ceased being a cinema so early – by 1962, shortly before I took this photo, it had become a bingo hall.

The Edit

 

This is what I do. As I get older and my bones get wearier, I seem to spend more and more time sitting at my desk watching my past life flash in front of me in a series of digital edits. I'm not complaining; it's a pleasant enough existence: as I move on, I take my memories with me, and, like any keen photographer, I edit them as I go.

A Pint, A Course And A Castle

 

I will always have fond memories of Wentworth Castle near Barnsley, back in the 1980s when Northern College was first established there under the legendary Michael Barratt Brown. Many are the conferences I've attended there, many the courses I've taught there, many the pints I've enjoyed in the bar there or the nearby Strafford Arms. 

The Light Of Day

 

This is a photograph of mine from the late 1970s of St Peter's Square in Manchester. It dates back to the period when limitations on time and money meant that I was very selective about which photographs I ever printed off, and, to the best of my knowledge, this particular photo has not seen the light of day before today.