Tunnel End

Photographs don't have to be "good" photographs to be memorable. Sometimes all they need to do is to capture a moment in time, seize a memory, transport you back to your youth. In this case I think it was Tunnel End in Marsden, but I can't be sure. Wherever it was, we're all at the other end of the tunnel now!

Weather Forecast

 

Here is the weather forecast for today .... and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that .....

Hastings Hats

Some years ago I had a phase of buying old glass plate negatives on eBay. I had to abandon the practice as they would consistently arrive through the post in pieces. Here's one that made it without breaking - it shows a group of women (could it be a milliners outing) in Hastings. Just as your eye finds its way around those extraordinary hats, it inevitably come to rest on that most memorable notice!

Remembering Sheffield

 

Went to a reunion in Sheffield last night, full of folk sharing memories of forty-odd years ago. Here’s my memories - of coffee and cream buses, Kelvin Hall flats, and the sound and smell of industry filling the morning air.

Industrial Heights

 

New housing developments in these parts have wonderfully aspirational names like Victoria Heights and Westminster View. Back in the old days street names were more descriptive than aspirational. Here's one of my photos of Brighouse from the early 1970s showing Industrial Street, which was next to Anvil Street, and not far from Oddfellows Street!

Enoch & Betty

 

A date stamp on the reverse of this studio portrait of my grandfather, Enoch Burnett, gives me a precise date - the 18th November 1928. At the time, Enoch will have been 51 years old and working as a window cleaner in Great Horton, Bradford. He is joined in this portrait by his dog, Betty, who, according to family legend, "was a good ratter".

Uderpass Escape

They were a legacy of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, as redolent of the times as any pop anthem or cult movie. Underpasses were the pit shafts of their day - cold and heartless, an assault on common humanity, temples of a subterranean subculture.

36/1001 : This is - or rather was - Halifax, but I'm not 100% sure where exactly. It was over 50 years ago that I took the photo, but I have a feeling it might have been Akroyd Place. I still have a fear of the area based on being made to go to Akroyd Place Baths as a child.

Pigs Are Equal

I've always been fond of pigs, there is a certain contentedness about them which I have always admired. I think I have to agree with Churchill when he said: "I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals".

A Lot Of Gas And Some Empty Chairs

 

You can decide which jet of nostalgia is turned on by this advert which I found in my copy of the 1931 Souvenir Book of the Historical Pageant of Bradford. Perhaps it is the vision of the perfect mother in her perfect lounge surrounded by her perfect children. Or maybe it is the time when you could say that gas was economical too, and keeps a straight, warm, face. For me it is the vague memory of each local authority having their own gas and electricity departments with show-rooms in the town or city centre.

My quest to find 1001 half decent photographs before I "clicked my shutter" finds me in Sheffield in 1980, walking through the park and discovering a strange geometric pattern created by empty seats in search of an audience.

Print Runs And Mucky Masters

 

Copies of my latest collection of social media posts have just arrived from the printers. Following the outstanding success of the last edition I have doubled the print run to 10 copies. The distribution model remains the same, however, a copy on my bookshelf, a copy for the grandkids and most of the rest will be deposited on the "free books" shelves at local supermarkets and pubs.

34/1001 : I took this photo of Halifax Town Hall 50 years ago whilst the stonework was being cleaned. I can understand the viewpoint of those who think it's right to preserve the industrial legacy of layers of soot and grime, but, to me, that's just like leaving an old master mucky!

Who Needs People?

 

The distinctive shape of St John the Baptist's Church in Coley near Northowram. It's the isolation of the church that has always been its most distinguishing feature, it's almost as though it purposely shuns the company of houses and people. It's been a prominent local feature for over 500 years: who needs people?

The Parthenon Of Elland

 

It is the Parthenon of Elland. Every day, countless coaches deposit hordes of tourists eager to catch a glimpse of its classical lines. Souvenir shops crowd the surrounding narrow streets selling cheap plastic models of this iconic structure. it's a building dedicated to the gods of municipal pride and self-reliance. It is, of course, Elland Town Hall.

Kids And Drones

 

The photograph dates from 1948 and was taken outside our house in Great Horton, Bradford. My brother, Roger, is the one just below the letter box and I am not sure about the identity of the others. I was just about arriving in the world at the time the photo was taken. My question relates to the nature of change - what has changed in the intervening 75 years. Is it just the clothes and hairstyles that date it, or something more fundamental? Discuss.

33/1001 : These days you can get a drone to fly over towns and capture a photographic record. 50 years ago there were no drones, but in Halifax you didn’t need one because there was always Beacon Hill. This shot from the early 70s is like a memory map of the town of my youth.

Stone Faces And Stone Gods

 

This stone face looks out at people who enter St John the Baptist Church in Penistone. He, or could it be she, has seen so much: joy, sorrow, hopes, fears. Besieged by the Yorkshire wind and rain they remain watchful, perhaps waiting … but for what?

32/1001 : THE GREAT WALLS OF NORTHOWRAM (1968)

Some naïve folk believe these walls were built to hold quarry spoil and flatten fields. But no: they are the burial chambers of the ancient pharaohs of Queensbury and Shelf, deities still worshiped by many in these parts.

Walking Snaps

 

This is a small print that came into my possession one way or another, and it's a fine early example of street photography. It probably dates from the 1920s and I have no idea as to either the location or the identity of the subjects. Like all such photos, however, it is dripping with social history - you could probably write a thesis on this image alone.

Elland : Rowing Boats

 

This photo of Elland Bridge, By-Pass and Power Station started life in the early 1980s, but, quite clearly, I've messed about with it since then. They've messed about with the actual scene as well - the Power Station is long gone and some of the mill chimneys have lost their stature. What I can't work out, however, is where I took the original photograph from!

31/1001 : ROWING BOATS

I spotted this collection of rowing boats in Bridlington, more than 40 years ago. What struck me was the names: they all have everyday names of the time - like a roll-call of classic TV characters ... Karen & Keith, June & Ron. And amongst them all, is the Duchess of Montrose!

A Cuppa And Some Fish

Most car journeys of my youth would involve stopping for a cup of tea. If it was a short journey – one of the regular weekend “runs” around West Yorkshire – there would be a flask of milky tea. Longer journeys – those day trips to Bridlington of Blackpool – might necessitate a Camping Gas stove and teapot. Here my mother and father pose with cup of tea in place, the Hillman Minx ready to run us on to the next cuppa stop.

1001 PHOTOS No. 30 GRIMSBY FISH DOCKS (1985)

It’s the first chapter in the story of fish and chips: a concrete palace lined with fish heads and ice. The photograph dates from the 1980s: a time when I would escape to the rare beauty of Cleethorpes and Grimsby Fish Docks whenever I got the opportunity.

Best Love : The Triumph Of Grey : Old And New And Glorious

 

Sometimes I choose the subjects for my daily desktop calendar, other times they choose themselves. This redoubtable character chose herself. It might be my Great Aunt Ruth-Annie or her sister Miriam or it might be any of a half dozen sisters from a different branch of the family. Whoever she is, she sent her portrait to my father's cousin and signed it "To my dear niece with best love". She has a smile the width of the Humber Estuary and hair by Van de Graaff. Whoever she was, I would have liked to have met her.

An old fire escape and a new flyover; course concrete and bilious billboards: for me the 1980s always seemed like a monochrome decade. There was black and white and not much in-between, and we seem to be moving in that direction again. Oh, for the triumph of grey.

A small, 120 year old piece of cardboard. On one side, history is captured in the form of a picture of North Bridge, Halifax flanked by long-lost mills and theatres. On the other side, life is captured in the form of a prehistoric text message to Miss Speechley who lives in the Isle of Man. Together they pose enough questions to occupy any Saturday.

Without intending to do so, I appear to have produced a trio of images of the junction between Cross Hills and North Bridge, Halifax. Friday's was a photograph of mine from 40 years ago, yesterday's a picture postcard from 120 years ago, and today's an image from just two years ago. I've messed about with this latest photo, gone a little overboard with the artistic filters - but the view can take it. It's old and new Halifax in all its glory.

Have Bed Ready And Look At A Town In Transition

 

The postcard dates back to the first decade of the 20th century and shows the Winter Gardens and Pier in Great Yarmouth. As is so often the case, the message on the back of the card is far more interesting than the somewhat crude image on the front. "Dear Mother, Just a line hoping you are quite well. Shall come home on Saturday night so please have bed ready as I shall retire early. I shall come home straight from Brixton after rehearsals, I expect about 11.00pm. Love to Dad, yourself and all, Yours, Bert"

1001 PHOTOS  29 : BRIGHOUSE IN TRANSITION : This photo of mine from the 1960s shows Brighouse from the hillside above Clifton. It captures the town in transition. Look carefully and you can still see working mills before they became apartments, and flour silos before they became climbing walls. You can also see new industry beginning to creep into the scene from the east,

Grain, Victory And Bovril

 

The original photograph was taken almost 60 years ago, somewhere in Scotland. As the years have gone by the original negative has faded, the grain has been pixilated, and the event has been turned into a memory. It remains, somewhere in Scotland.

28/1001 - Victory & Bovril : My quest to identify 1001 interesting photos I took before I died continues. This was 1968, I was probably chanting some anti-war slogan as I marched from Trafalgar Square to Grosvenor Square, but I still had my camera to hand to capture the occasion.

1 April 2024 - Britannia : Rescanning : Covers

BRITANNIA AMONGST THE CHIMNEY POTS

There are some scenes I return to again and again: photographs I have been taking for fifty years. One such is the statue of Britannia which overlooks Elland Bridge from her elevated position on the roof of the former premises of the Halifax and Huddersfield Banking Company. Sometimes I try and capture her in an elegant pose, flanked by the pilasters, columns and pediments of the frontage of what is now a beautifully restored building. At other times I sneak up on her and catch her off guard, amid the tv aerials and chimney pots.

11 March 2024 : Paper Hanging

 

Some people read the paper, some try and understand the meaning of life, George II and Elvis Presley both died there .... and photographers look for shapes and patterns and textures.

Well Done That Town

The shop names and the shape of the cars may be different, and flat caps and plastic rain hoods abound; but the scene is still recognisable. In many places, the modern equivalent would be a pale shadow of commercial enterprise, but not Brighouse. Well done!

10th March 2024 : Gladys In The Garden

 

It's Mother's Day, so who else but my mother, Gladys. This photograph will have been taken sometime around 1953, just after we had moved to Northowram. I would have been about five at the time. What memories, Mam.

9th March 2024 : The Chauffeur

 

It's said that early photographers were accused of stealing people's souls when they took photographs of them. This, of course, is nonsense as we all know that it is 5G masts and modern vaccines that steal souls. It never ceases to amaze me, however, that for a few pence you can buy an old photo and steal a moment in history.

Garden Visitor

 

A chance photograph taken through the kitchen window in order to check to see if my Nikon B700 is still working. It is!

Gala Days #2

 

These photos from the 1967 Halifax Charity Gala parade provide an insight not only into the street scenery of the time - there’s Greenwoods, Barratts, and M&S in the right place - but also the way of life of the time. And let’s not forget Pinky and Perky! 2/3

Pylons Welcomed

 

Some folks don’t take kindly to electricity pylons, accusing them of ruining what they believe to be “natural” landscapes. Up here, however, there’s nothing natural about these stone mined hills and mill smoked valleys. Pylons are welcome, any day.

Gala Days #1

 

Back in the summer of 1967 I was about to leave school and take up a promised job as a photographer on the local newspaper. They suggested I should get some practice in before starting work by taking photos at local events. One such was the Halifax Charity Gala parade as it made its way through the streets of Halifax. These are the first two of a series of shots from that day.

Walking Around Egypt

Until we ventured to France in the 1960s, it was my understanding that my father had only ever been abroad once - and that was a day trip to Calais in the 1930s. Thus initially I was surprised to see in his diary for this week in 1934 that he had gone walking around Egypt! The solution was to be found, of course, in the hamlet of Egypt just north of Thornton near Bradford.

SQBW

Square monochrome photographs seem to be getting quite a following on social media, perhaps it’s time they had their own hashtag. This was St Thomas Church in Greetland near Halifax yesterday. #sqbw

The Cyclists

A few years ago I went through a phase of buying glass plate negatives off eBay. It was a hit or miss pastime as a good proportion of the purchases would arrive in pieces. Luckily this particular image did not suffer that fate and therefore can provide us with an almost perfect phial of pure history.

Uncle Harry

Everyone should have an Uncle Harry in their family. He performed in seaside concert parties in the 1920s and at holiday caravan parks in the 1950s. He played the Working Men's Clubs, grew his hair fashionably long in the 1960s and wore platform shoes to make him look taller. He was frowned upon by the rest of the family, but he had style in bucket-fulls and left memories as grand as any piano.

Pinball Skidding In Doncaster

I took this photograph in Doncaster Market a few years ago. I think it works rather well as a monochrome image - the lack of colour doesn’t simplify it, it turns it into a pinball machine where your eye is sent skidding from one side to the other.