For anyone devoted to wandering down the side streets of inconsequence, old picture postcards are an ideal mode of transport. You can spend many a happy hour trying to work out where the old photographs were taken from – where, for example, in Elland was this view taken from 110 years ago – and you can drop in on a century-old WhatsApp conversation. And, if you want even more, you can marvel at a time when postcards appear to have been delivered the day before they were written!
The Hebble Brook stealths its way through Halifax, hidden where possible, breaking to the surface only occasionally to spit-wash the shadows of industry gone by.
I’ve never been convinced by the accusation that when you take someone’s photograph, you are stealing their soul; just because you possess a photo of someone doesn’t mean you can lay claim to their soul. Possessing the negative is a different thing entirely. Thanks to a recent purchase of an original 1940s negative on eBay, I can now announce that I possess the souls of not only President Roosevelt, but the actress Katherine Hepburn as well!
For anyone devoted to wandering down the side streets of inconsequence, old picture postcards are an ideal mode of transport. You can spen...
