THIS IS BRADFORD

 

Green Clough

 

I took this photograph of Dean Clough in Halifax back in 2017. The profusion of green vegetation provides a date stamp: fifty years earlier, the buildings would have been the same, but the occasional sooty dandelion would have been the only plant life to survive. To be honest, nine years later and the scene will be far less green as the effects of the current heatwave and drought take effect. For a time, however, it was Green Clough rather than Dean Clough.

Happy Birthday Roger

A photograph taken in a Bradford back yard more than three-quarters of a century ago. It features me sitting on my mother's knee, watched over by my brother, Roger. Next Monday would have been my mother Gladys's birthday. Today is my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Rog - see you in December.

Bronzed

 

We got a new Prime Minister yesterday. We've had quite a lot of them lately. Back in the old days, once you had finished with a Prime Minister, you erected a bronze statue to him or her. These days, that might be a somewhat extravagant use of bronze. Here's wishing Andy Burnham luck in his endeavours. My photo for today is of the statue to the redoubtable David Lloyd George. 

The Sprinting Photographer

 

This is another of my Sheffield photos from when I was living in the city forty years ago. I was obviously much younger then because I was able to sprint out into the middle of a dual carriageway to get the shot - and live to tell the tale many decades later.

You Decide

Is this real, or is it fake? As someone who has spent much of his life taking black-and-white photographs, I don't think I'm a good judge of what's real. Is it art, or is it computer-generated slush? Who knows? Who cares? Is it pleasant to look at? You decide.

 

1980s

Another photograph from my Sheffield series, taken back in the 1980s. The cars scream the 1980s. The background - slowly fading into a post-industrial emptiness - weeps the 1980s.

 

Just Imagine

So I said to AI, "Here's a picture of Halifax's old Piece Hall Let's imagine, just for a second, that one of the world's finest singer-songwriters, James Taylor, was over there in the corner singing. Can you show us what that would look like?" This is what AI came up with. Clever thing, AI. Brilliant singer, JT.

Foggy Night In Sheffield

It was over forty years ago, but I can still remember taking this photograph. This was long before everyone had a camera in their pocket disguised as a telephone, so I would have been out and about with a hefty SLR, trying to imagine how the picture might eventually turn out. It turned out quite well, I think. 

Calder Scars

I must have taken this photograph looking across the Calder Valley from Hullenedge Road in Elland about fifty years ago. I was probably trying to capture the freshness of the scar resulting from the construction of the then, new Elland by-pass. Over the last half century, that scar has largely healed, although recent work has created fresh scars further along the by-pass.

 

Tunnel Vision

 

Many old castles have secret tunnels, but the one that runs under the ancient Dénia Castle in Alicante Province, Spain is somewhat different because it is less than a hundred years old. It was constructed as an air raid shelter for the local population during the Spanish Civil War. My photograph was taken during a visit there in 2017.