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.

Brighouse Market Time Markers

Another shot from that same strip of negatives from 50+ years ago. I’d obviously moved on from Bradford Road to the site of the old Brighouse Open Market which, I think, was where the bus station is now. Another shot full of time markers.

230 For 6

 

This is from an odd little album of some 100 photos from the 1920s and 30s that I bought a few weeks ago. I have no idea where the cricket ground is - but knowing the power of social media, no doubt someone will tell me - along with the date and the name of the batsman - by end of play today.