Tunnel End

Photographs don't have to be "good" photographs to be memorable. Sometimes all they need to do is to capture a moment in time, seize a memory, transport you back to your youth. In this case I think it was Tunnel End in Marsden, but I can't be sure. Wherever it was, we're all at the other end of the tunnel now!

Weather Forecast

 

Here is the weather forecast for today .... and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that .....

Hastings Hats

Some years ago I had a phase of buying old glass plate negatives on eBay. I had to abandon the practice as they would consistently arrive through the post in pieces. Here's one that made it without breaking - it shows a group of women (could it be a milliners outing) in Hastings. Just as your eye finds its way around those extraordinary hats, it inevitably come to rest on that most memorable notice!

Remembering Sheffield

 

Went to a reunion in Sheffield last night, full of folk sharing memories of forty-odd years ago. Here’s my memories - of coffee and cream buses, Kelvin Hall flats, and the sound and smell of industry filling the morning air.

Industrial Heights

 

New housing developments in these parts have wonderfully aspirational names like Victoria Heights and Westminster View. Back in the old days street names were more descriptive than aspirational. Here's one of my photos of Brighouse from the early 1970s showing Industrial Street, which was next to Anvil Street, and not far from Oddfellows Street!

Enoch & Betty

 

A date stamp on the reverse of this studio portrait of my grandfather, Enoch Burnett, gives me a precise date - the 18th November 1928. At the time, Enoch will have been 51 years old and working as a window cleaner in Great Horton, Bradford. He is joined in this portrait by his dog, Betty, who, according to family legend, "was a good ratter".

Uderpass Escape

They were a legacy of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, as redolent of the times as any pop anthem or cult movie. Underpasses were the pit shafts of their day - cold and heartless, an assault on common humanity, temples of a subterranean subculture.

36/1001 : This is - or rather was - Halifax, but I'm not 100% sure where exactly. It was over 50 years ago that I took the photo, but I have a feeling it might have been Akroyd Place. I still have a fear of the area based on being made to go to Akroyd Place Baths as a child.

Pigs Are Equal

I've always been fond of pigs, there is a certain contentedness about them which I have always admired. I think I have to agree with Churchill when he said: "I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals".

A Lot Of Gas And Some Empty Chairs

 

You can decide which jet of nostalgia is turned on by this advert which I found in my copy of the 1931 Souvenir Book of the Historical Pageant of Bradford. Perhaps it is the vision of the perfect mother in her perfect lounge surrounded by her perfect children. Or maybe it is the time when you could say that gas was economical too, and keeps a straight, warm, face. For me it is the vague memory of each local authority having their own gas and electricity departments with show-rooms in the town or city centre.

My quest to find 1001 half decent photographs before I "clicked my shutter" finds me in Sheffield in 1980, walking through the park and discovering a strange geometric pattern created by empty seats in search of an audience.

Print Runs And Mucky Masters

 

Copies of my latest collection of social media posts have just arrived from the printers. Following the outstanding success of the last edition I have doubled the print run to 10 copies. The distribution model remains the same, however, a copy on my bookshelf, a copy for the grandkids and most of the rest will be deposited on the "free books" shelves at local supermarkets and pubs.

34/1001 : I took this photo of Halifax Town Hall 50 years ago whilst the stonework was being cleaned. I can understand the viewpoint of those who think it's right to preserve the industrial legacy of layers of soot and grime, but, to me, that's just like leaving an old master mucky!

Who Needs People?

 

The distinctive shape of St John the Baptist's Church in Coley near Northowram. It's the isolation of the church that has always been its most distinguishing feature, it's almost as though it purposely shuns the company of houses and people. It's been a prominent local feature for over 500 years: who needs people?