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.