Shared Art

 

These days, if you buy shares in a company, the best you can expect is a pro-forma PDF digital certificate - with all the elegance of a breeze block. Back in the last century, you'd receive a work of art to record your acquisition, with classical figures and semi-naked gods welcoming you into the realm of capitalism. I bought my share certificates as a job lot for a few pence: devoid of property, rich in art.

Waiting For The Cable To Drop

 

This is an old photograph, picked at random from the boxes and drawers of old photographs I live with. There is nothing special about it - I have no idea who Mac and Burbidge were - other than that it sums up everything I love about old photographs. I could no doubt feed it through an AI machine and it would come out looking clean and new ... and somehow false. It's the sepia patina of time that makes it special.

Temple To Steam

 

While we’re on the subject of ancient monuments (see yesterday’s post), what about this fine obelisk? Built as a temple to Steam, the god of industry, it was worshipped by thousands of acolytes who would gather in its shadow daily. Mill chimneys are the monolithic heads of West Yorkshire.

Them And Us

 

Down south, if they find a load of standing stones, they declare it an ancient monument and charge people £30 to look at it. Up north, we simply assume they're there to stop the cows from wandering out of the field.

Waves And Hills

 

I think this photograph of mine of Elland dates from the early 1980s, but I can't remember the exact date (oh, how I wish we had metadata back in those pre-digital days). The theme is timeless: waves of stone-clad industry washing up against the natural Pennine hills. I still travel up and down those steep roads several times a week. Timeless.

An Illustration

 

At what point does a photograph become an illustration? I'm not sure of the answer, but it probably has something to do with tones and lines. This illustration of Halifax Borough Market is based on a photograph I took last year. The simplicity of line and tone makes it look a little like something from a nineteenth century copy of The Illustrated London News. That, however, is a twenty-first century mobile phone shop on the right.

Happy Birthday

 

The Nature Of Reality And The Digital Dilemma

 

Yes, It Is Me

 

South Yorkshire Allegory

 

Postcard Law

 

The Churchyard

 

Brighouse Fantasy

 

Elland Power

 

Britannia's Leafy Crown

 

It's a photograph I have taken time and time again over the last half century: Britannia sitting atop her eponymous buildings in Elland. During the 1970s and 80s, the scene was stark - stone, soot slate and a few brave saplings. By 2016, when this version was taken, vegetation was in charge and Britannia wore a leafy crown.

Albert

I took this photo of my father around the time I was doing a photography course at the local Tech. We were studying lighting, and the homework was to produce a dramatically lit portrait. I achieved this with a couple of reading lights and an old blackout curtain. These days, all you would have to do is ask AI to create the mood. It wouldn't be half the fun, however.

Celebration At The Rock

 

This is a classic image of what has always been, to me, a classic pub. It's not the closest pub to where I live, but it's my local. It doesn't have the fanciest range of real cask ales, but I'll forgive it. It's undoubtedly idiosyncratic, but so am I. My picture shows a 1911 celebration at the Rock Tavern, Upper Edge, Elland. There will be another celebration there next Friday (the 15th), when the Friday quiz returns after a six years absence. I can't guarantee the sheep will be there ... but I will be.

Four Characters In Search Of A Narrative

 

Another image from that collection of old photographs I've acquired over the years, which fall under the general heading of "Found Photographs". As usual, the questions of who, where and when must go unanswered - but that means we can make up our own stories. These are four characters in search of a narrative.

Oxford Days

 

A 40-odd year old photograph of me, surrounded by textbooks and typewriter, and captioned "Oxford, 1984" might suggest an involvement with some of the famed academic institutions of that city. In fact, we were simply staying with friends for the weekend, and the lecture I was writing would have been delivered in the far less distinguished quarters of Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Conversations With AI Lowry

 

So I said to AI, "What if L. S. Lowry had visited Elland and set up his easel on Saddleworth Road, looking towards Elland Bridge?" "Give me a photo to start me off," said AI. "OK, here's one I took back in the 1980s. Can you do anything with it?" "I'll have a go," said AI. AI Lowry, that is.

A Town In Transition

 

My photograph of Halifax dates from the early 1970s and shows the town during a time of transition. Centre stage is the Homfray carpet mill (although by then it had become part of the Riding Hall Carpet Group), which ceased production not long after the picture was taken and was demolished by the start of the next decade. You can also see the course of the old railway line to Queensbury and the two power station cooling towers.

A Contented Pig

 

I met this splendid fellow yesterday during a visit to the Pigs In The Wood Animal Sanctuary in Scissett, Huddersfield. When I asked him to smile for the camera, he delivered a look of such contentment and satisfaction that it was a pleasure to behold.

The Celebration

 

This photo has been in that suitcase of memories I call the "family archives" for as long as I can remember, and I always assumed the cake was celebrating the birthday of one of my relatives born in 1851. On closer inspection, it doesn't say 1851 on the cake - it says 85. Given that the photo must have been taken around 1920, that means I'm looking for someone born around 1835. I haven't found her yet.

Revealing Dress

 

You can have great fun with artificial intelligence by asking it to transform a familiar picture of your favourite relative into an image of a 19th century Victorian gentleman - or whatever you like. More revealing, though, is taking a century old studio portrait and using AI to dress the subjects in modern clothing. My photo is a 1916 portrait of my grandparents and my mother (the little girl at the front). Put them in modern clothing, and suddenly I see my granddaughter.

Long And Winding Path

 

It's the end of the month, and here is a path leading somewhere - but who knows where? Whilst this is true in a literal sense (I have no idea where I was when I took this photograph nearly half a century ago), it is also true in a wider, philosophical sense. Perhaps May will bring peace and understanding. Alas, I'm not particularly optimistic that it will.

Dirty Old Town

 

I frequently met my love by these gas works walls; they were opposite the carpet mill where I was working at the time. Around then, I may have walked a little way up Old Bank in Halifax to take this photograph. In many ways, I suppose it was a "dirty old town", but it was my town and my home.

The Maid And The Watchers

 

This photograph, which I suspect dates from the 1920s, was in an old album I bought on eBay. The first thing to capture your attention is the maid, enjoying a moment of freedom - or sunshine - before returning to her duties in the big house. Then you notice the watchers. Who are they? And who are they watching - the maid or the photographer? There's half a novel in this one little photograph.

The Sirens Of The Gas Works

 

I know what you're going to say - you're going to say, "You cheat; you've used that photo on your calendar before!. What about 1st August 2024?" . It is not the same image, however. Throughout my life, I have been drawn to Bank Bottom in Halifax, like Canaletto was drawn to Venice and Cézanne was captivated by Aix-en-Provence. The sirens that inhabited Halifax Gas Works lured me there again and again - on this occasion in 1970.