History Preserved

 

My photograph dates back to the 1960s and shows the Mobil petrol station on Winding Road, Halifax. The garage was built on the site of the Old Crispin Inn, which dated back to the 1840s. That inn was itself built on the site of an even older Crispin Inn, a famed meeting place of local radicals and Luddites. When the Old Crispin Inn was demolished, parts of it were preserved at Shibden Hall Museum. When the petrol station was demolished, parts of it weren't.

Sowerby Bridge Station

I must confess that I don't remember the old Sowerby Bridge Station, although I'm sure I must have seen it before it burned down in the late 1970s. If this picture-postcard view is anything to go by, it was a rather grand affair - certainly in a different class from the functional, minimalist building that stands there now.

 

Cut And Paste

 

I created this image of Halifax back in 2018, so it is definitely pre-artificial intelligence. Perhaps it's artificial pseudo-intelligence, as it was created by repeatedly pressing Photoshop buttons without any plan in mind. Nevertheless, the result - a collection of buildings, old and new, grand and gruesome - seems almost as if they have been cut and pasted onto a night view of Halifax.

The Essence Of The Image

I have suitcases full of old photographs - my lost images collection - and sometimes, when I'm sorting through them, one will shout out at me. It's not who the people are (I don't know them) or what they're doing; it's the very essence of the image itself. The lines and shapes ask questions; the light and shadows hint at answers.

View From St Thomas's

Those of us who spend our lives looking at pictures of old Halifax have a range of potential dating pointers: Is Square Church still a church, or just a spire? Is the Queensbury railway line still in place? are there trees on Beacon Hill? I think this photograph of mine was taken in the 1960s, but I can't be sure. One possible clue - whether St Thomas's, Claremount still has a tower - is of little use, as I took the photograph from the churchyard.

Frightening

 

Artificial intelligence took one of my photographs of North Bridge and Burdock Way in Halifax and did this with it. It's frightening. The problem is, it's frighteningly good.

Green Change

 

Whenever I revisit one of my old photographs, I can never resist the temptation to seek out a modern view of the same scene to see what has changed. With this view of the junction between Northowram Green and Land's Head Lane, I assumed it would be much the same, but I was surprised by the number of changes that had taken place. You can check it out yourself by taking a walk through this lovely village or, failing that, by taking a look on Google Street View!

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. 

The Slow Train

 

At one time, railway lines criss-crossed West Yorkshire like the warp and weft of the very fabrics the area was famous for. Holmfield Junction Station stood at the junction of the line from Halifax to Bradford via Queensbury and the splendidly named Halifax High Level Railway. None of these lines survive, and when I took this photo of the station in the 1960s, it had already been closed for more than a decade.

Stone Passion

Forget Fifty Shades of Grey: let the sun shine in Yorkshire and you get something much better - fifty shades of stone. Those shades don’t come from some manufactured dye (see the brick wall top left and demolish immediately), but from aeons of sedimentary activity, with the occasional added spice of igneous movement. Stone passion.

 

The Picture Postcard

 

Raise a toast to the humble picture-postcard photographers of a century ago. They seemed to spend their lives producing decorative trinkets - bearing inane greetings - sent from aunt to nephew, friend to friend, and lover to lover. What they actually did was preserve the past better than any porticoed museum. They stopped time and saved the past for the future.

Locarno Conference

When world leaders arrive at one of the countless international conferences they seem to attend these days, they might pause for a quick Facebook post or an X tweet, but they are unlikely to pose for, and add their signatures to, a commemorative picture postcard. This card from my collection reflects a different world. Unfortunately, the conference brought peace to Europe for only about ten years. Nice postcard, however.

Howzat!

 

Each week I take the grandchildren up to cricket practice at Green Moor, high on the hills between Sheffield and Barnsley. Each week, as the kids bat balls and catch catches, I look at the scene and try and capture a little of what I see on my phone or my iPad. I never really succeed, but it's fun trying. Here's this week's attempt.

Dark Satanic Mill

As time goes by and memories fade, there is a tendency to romanticise life in the mills of West Yorkshire (and I'm probably as guilty as the next old fool when it comes to this). When they were turning out cloth - or yarn or carpets - by the mile and black smoke was belching from their chimneys, they were dirty, noisy and dangerous places. I worked in this mill back in the 60s for what, I'm glad to say, was a very short period of time.

 

All At Sea

Having just booked a trip later this year to visit my various Caribbean relatives, perhaps I should prepare them for my arrival aboard the Queen Mary. After all, it has been some time since I've seen them. However, as they will discover, I haven't changed at all. 

The Build Up

 

To be honest, I don't remember taking this photograph, but it remains one of my favourite shots of my hometown. Surrounded by hills, Halifax has always built upward: stone needles of mill chimneys, ornate church spires, and concrete-clad boxes of apartments. Scenes like this were made for black and white - colour had no place in Halifax's palette back in those days.