Pictures from the exhibition: History in stone

 

My exhibition in the Half Moon Café has come to an end - and I did sell a couple of pictures, which was gratifying, though that was by no means my primary objective.  Thanks to all who visited and to all who have made kind comments about the photos (including here on my blog).  Perhaps the nicest thing I heard was from some friends who asked the local street sweeper/neighbourhood warden for directions to the Café.  He told them how to get there and then added: "There are some lovely photos on show in there at the moment." Aw....

It seems that people either love this photo of the mill chimney or hate it.  Personally, I like it - but then I would, wouldn't I! (It was born of an attempt to explore Layers and Blending modes in Photoshop.)

Saltaire's mill, houses and public buildings are constructed of locally quarried sandstone, mellow and honey-coloured.  It seems to me that history is etched into the stones; they tell so many stories.  In this image I wanted to suggest something of the awesome size of Salts Mill and its massive chimney.  I also wanted to refer to its soot-blackened past.  Many of Saltaire's houses still have blackened stone, caused by years of air pollution from the mill chimneys and the coal fires that all the houses originally had.  'Clean Air' legislation in the 1950s made a huge difference to air quality and subsequently most of the public buildings and some of the houses were cleaned up by sand-blasting the stonework.  (The contrast is very noticeable in this picture.)