1523 : Brighouse's Brutalist Rally

OLD FLOUR MILL, BRIGHOUSE : DECEMBER 2016

The line-up of cars looks vaguely like the front row of some brutalist rally; awaiting the flag to drop so that they can accelerate off into the canal. And when they eventually sink beneath the cold Calder waves, the giant concrete car dispenser will deposit a replacement row, all ready to go again.

1522 : Somehow I Doubt It

DUKE OF YORK GUEST HOUSE, SCARBOROUGH : DECEMBER 2016

Could this be where the Duke of York stays when he visits Scarborough? Somehow I doubt it!

1521 : Like The Tag-Line Of A Hymn

SCARBOROUGH HARBOUR, DECEMBER 2016 : 1612-171

There is a dark sky and a dark sea: and sandwiched between them, like the tag-line of a hymn, is a layer of brightness and hope. "Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on Scarborough front".

1520 : Fretting Over The North Sea

There is something about the mist and the sea. I am well aware that the seasoned navigators amongst you will say that often it is a dangerous mix, but those of us that take photographs will see only the way in which the mist draws things together and softens the hardest salt-encrusted edges. This was taken in Scarborough, at a time when the mist was fretting over the North Sea.

1519 : Let's Build A New World

INDUSTRIAL UNIT - "CLEGSTYLE" : BRADFORD ROAD, BATLEY (1612-98) (December 2016)

Dear Doctor, Is there something wrong with me? More and more, I prefer buildings to people. Buildings don't die: they simply crumble into dusty insignificance. Buildings don't make silly political decisions: they recognise solidarity as a virtue, and they know that what is on the inside is as important as what is on the outside. Even the tired frontage of this Batley industrial unit would make a better political leader than many ruling the world today (and tomorrow). Let's build a new world.

1518 : Laminated History

HALIFAX BOROUGH MARKET (1612C-38)

Built during Victoria’s reign of wrought iron, glass and Yorkshire stone, Halifax Borough Market remains one of the finest indoor Victorian markets in the country. Many of the names are the same as they were when I was a child - Max Crossley, Arthur Worsman, Frank Grosvenor. History laminated onto stone flags.

1517 : The Imagination Of Bats

BACK STATION ROAD, BATLEY - DECEMBER 2016 : 1612-138

Back Station Street in Batley runs down the back of the station. The name of the village that seems to hang from the valley side is Hanging Heaton. Imaginative folk in these parts.

1516 : Salvation Has Dried Up

WESLEYAN CHAPEL, BATLEY, DECEMBER 2016 : 1612-54

Chapels are dotted around Batley like second thoughts. Once, religion overflowed from the citizens like rainwater out of a Manchester water butt. Now the chapels are workshops and restaurants and boarded-up ruins. Salvation has dried up.

1515 : Cambridge Days

BATLEY TECHNICAL SCHOOL AND LIBRARY, DECEMBER 2016 : 1612-043

This photograph looks up Cambridge Street in Batley towards the town Library. On the left is the Technical School and on the right is the Municipal Swimming Baths. The municipal pigeons swoop overhead. I wonder if there is a Batley Street in Cambridge?

1514 : Drained Cars And Giant Wheelie Bins

BATLEY WAR MEMORIAL : DECEMBER 2016 (1612-030)

I sometimes think that the twin curse of modern times, as far as photographers are concerned, is that of cars and wheelie bins. Both conspire to overpower any scene with their flash metallic colours and utilitarian plastic angularity. In this picture, only by draining the cars of all their colour was the eye free to travel up the stone sets to the war memorial. Even then, the Fox's biscuit factory tried its best to imitate a giant wheelie bin.

1513 : A Great Place To See Art

BATLEY LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY : DECEMBER 2016 (1612-025)

After the beauty of the sun setting over the Lisbon skyline, where better to go to than Batley in West Yorkshire.  The town is full of spectacular stone buildings, many of which are in a terrible state of disrepair. Luckily, this is not the case with the Library and Art Gallery which is situated on the main square. A sign on the side of the building proclaims, "a great place to see art".  Whatever art that might be hanging inside, it would be hard pressed to challenge the beauty of the building itself.

1512 : Copy Cats

25 APRIL BRIDGE AND STATUE OF CHRIST THE KING, LISBON, PORTUGAL

As you leave Lisbon harbour you pass under the magnificent 25 April Bridge. It was built by the same company that constructed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and is very similar in many ways. Next to it is the statue of Christ The King, which was modelled on the statue of Christ The Redeemer in Rio. All they need is a copy of Big Ben to balance it on the other side of the bridge and they will have a full set.

1511 : Hey Mr Tambourine Man

Santa Cruz de la Palma : November 2016

I can't recall who this is a depiction of. It was a statue off one of the main squares in Santa Cruz de la Palma. A man, looking up at an overcast sky. Hey, Mr Tambourine Man

1510 : Remorseless Energy And Dark Logic

Santa Cruz de la Palma : November 2016

You sit in the cold north and dream about a land where the sun shines with remorseless energy and the sky is oil-paint blue. But when you live in such a land of dreams, you buy thick, dark shutters to keep the remorseless energy of the sun at bay.

1509 : Looking Down On Eira

Eira do Serrado, Madeira  (November 2016)

1508 : Climate Change

One of the guides showing us around Madeira told us that the island was famous for its micro climates and that it was possible to experience three or four weather systems in a single day. I took this photograph from a hilltop overlooking the capital, Funchal, in the bright sunlight. By the time we had reached the mountains, thirty minutes later, the rain-heavy clouds had closed in.

1506 : The Solitude Of Monks

DESERTA GRANDE, MADEIRA (November 2016)

As the name suggests, Deserta Grande, is uninhabited by humans. Which is just the way the colony of Mediterranean Monk Seals that call it their home, prefer things. Monks have always been fond of the solitude.

1506 : Washing The Horizon Clean

MASPALOMAS BEACH, GRAN CANARIA

People seem to be drawn to that narrow corridor between sky and sand where the warm sea washes the horizon clean.

1505 : Sore Thumb Of Style On A Bruised Fist Of Decay

NatWest Bank Building, Mexborough, South Yorkshire

This building dates back to a time when the excess profits of banks were as likely to be diverted into ornamentation as they were into director's bonuses. It stands on - appropriately enough - Bank Street in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, sticking out like a sore thumb of style on a bruised fist of decay.

1504 : Wapentake Days

Autumn in Tickhill (WRWP : Strafford and Tickhill, Lower)

A few days ago, My friend Steve and I went out on a Wapentake Day. Our project requires us to visit each of the fourteen ancient wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire and, between us, produce a photographic record of them. Tuesday was the turn of the Lower Division of Strafforth and Tickhill - and this particular photograph was taken in the village of Tickhill itself.

1503 : Mornington Crescent In Blue

Railway Line, Mornington Crescent - 10 October 2016

We stayed in London in a flat overlooking the end of Mornington Crescent and the main railway line into Euston. There was a balcony from which you could watch the sun rise and set - highlighting the graffiti, the stucco, and the power lines. For some reason the haunting melody of an old Scott Walker song - "Mantague Terrace (in Blue)" - kept going through my mind.

"The window sees trees cry from cold

And claw the moon"

1502 : A Question Answered

Deckchairs in Bridlington. Scanned 35mm B&W Negative (c. 1978)

I took this photograph some forty years ago. In Bridlington. As I took it, I seem to remember thinking "What do old people think about all day as they float, semi-comatose, towards the evening of their lives?". And now I know. They think "I remember taking a photograph once. In Bridlington ..."

1501 : Cover Calendar

Manhole Cover : Sanctuary Of Our Lady Of Hope, Calasparra, Spain

For years now, I have been taking pictures of manhole covers. One day I intend to gather them all together, select the twelve best and produce a calendar. I'm not sure what to call it, however!

1500 : Milestones / You Must Believe In Spring

I have just noticed that this is entry number 1,500 in my Photographic Blog (which started life as Alan Burnett's Daily Photo Blog and somewhere along the line changed its name to the equally descriptive Picture Post. That is a lot of days and a lot of posts. To mark the milestone, I have a picture from Saturday's gig by Mark Nightingale at Jazz@The Keys, Huddersfield. It would have been rather nice if he had been playing the Miles Davis tune, Milestones, when I took this photograph but I suspect it was Michel Legrand's You Must Believe in Spring. Perhaps that is an even better adage for the last nine years of picture posts.

1499 : The Miracle Of Calasparra

The River Segura in Murcia, Spain flows by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hope, Calasparra. Pilgrims come from miles around to view the church which has been hewn out of a natural cave - a cave where a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary was supposed to have been found. Their journey will be well worthwhile, not for the religious relic, but for the sight of the river flowing through the gorge cut deep in the landscape. The river has a form of natural luminescence which in its own way is truly miraculous.

1498 : Jumping On The Bandwagon

1497 : A Train Full Of Contradictions

1496 : Cursive Thoughts

1495 : A White Cat In A Snow Storm

1494 : Generosity In Stone

1493 : Snakes Alive

One of the photographs of the gig by Snake Davis and the Ben Crosland Trio at Jazz@The Keys, Huddersfield on Friday night. Great music at a great venue with an appreciative and enthusiastic audience.

1492 : You've Got To Admire The British Upper Class

1609A-60 : Shibden Park Lake, Halifax

You've got to admire the British upper class. If they look out of their window and consider the view of the valley and the river a little less than inspiring, they can order up a team of labourers to dam up the river and create a monumental lake. Anne Lister was one of the biggest employers of child labour in the coal mines of the Halifax area in the nineteenth century. She used the profits to change the view out of her window. You've got to admire the British upper class.

1491 : If This Was A Sculpture

1609A-59 : Rusted Gate, Fixby

If this was a sculpture, that fine lived-in colour would be called a patina. But it is an old iron fence and therefore it is just rust. If this was a sculpture, it would be displayed in a gallery and would be full of meaning. But it is an iron fence in a field, a field full of grass.

1490 : Rain-Dripping, Mist-Encasing, Damp-Draining Field

1609A39 : Field in Fixby - September 2016

I almost sent this in to the BBC who are always on the look-out for photographs they can use as back-drops to the Weather Forecast. Rain-dripping, mist-encasing, damp-draining field: perfect for about nine months of the year.

1489 : Worth Getting Wet For

1609A40: 

This was the road to Brighouse on Sunday. It was wet and foggy and bleak and damp. And for some reason it was quite striking. Worth getting wet for.

1488 : Collateral Damage

160937

Sometimes when I see a lovely old building I want to strip away the cars, the advertising hoardings, the street signs and the people and just appreciate the lines of the building itself (I long to discover an editing program that can do this for me!). At other times all that collateral colour and noise just add to the building. This is the case with the lovely old Grosvenor Picture Palace on Oxford Road, Manchester which I walked by yesterday. Designed by Percy Hothersall in what is described as "Renaissance-influenced Roman-Corinthian" style, it was the largest cinema outside London at the time of its opening in 1915. Sadly it no longer shows films but serves cheap drinks to students.

1487 : Body And Soul

160925

It takes a lot to keep my outside a pub and restaurant when the night is coming on and a thirst is gathering.  But last night, stood outside the 3 Acres in Shelley, I have to confess I hesitated and spent a few minutes refreshing my soul by looking at the sunset over Huddersfield. And then, of course, I entered and refreshed my body.

1486 : On The State Of Live Music In The UK

1609A2

This photograph was taken twelve years ago in September 2004 at the Scarborough Jazz Festival. Sadly, it says a lot about the state of live music in the UK. So often, there can be more people in the band than there are in the audience - a sad state of affairs.

1485 : Can't See The Mills For The Trees

WEST VALE MILL FROM HULLENEDGE : 29 AUGUST 2016 (1608C68)

I had a discussion the other week with a friend about changes to the West Yorkshire landscape that have come about over the last fifty or so years. We came to the conclusion that one of the most visible changes was the return of the trees. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century you would have been hard pressed to see a tree amidst the stonescape of mills. Now you can hardly see the mills for the trees.

1484 : Dying For Colour

CENTURY DYEWORKS, ELLAND : 27 AUGUST 2016

You would think it deserved to be painted in brighter colours. Rich blues, boastful reds, self-righteous greens. But the colours, it would appear, are all safely hidden within.

1483 : Briggate, Elland

BRIGGATE, ELLAND, AUGUST 2016 : 1608C43

Briggate means the road to the bridge and appropriately enough Briggate leads down to Elland Bridge. There has been a bridge over the River Calder hereabouts since the twelfth century, but most of the early ones were made of wood and were destroyed during river flooding. The current one is made of stone, but it didn't do it much good : part of it was washed away in the flooding last Christmas.

1482 : Scaling Abraham With A Can Of Lager

CABLE CAR, MATLOCK BATH (1990) : 1608C24

This scan comes from a negative I took twenty five years or so ago at the Heights Of Abraham, Matlock Bath in Derbyshire. The cable car was relatively new then and probably still the only alpine style cable car in the UK. It still exists today, but the cars are much sleeker and they no longer sing the praises of lager!

1481 : Cigarettes And Sixties Schooldays

NIGEL B : 1966 (1608B96)

I can't remember whether I took this photograph at home or in the school photographic studios which were down in the basements of the school both I and the subject (I think he was called Nigel) attended. The cigarette would not be evidence either way - they were relaxed days back in the sixties.

1480 : Defying The Laws Of Perspective

NEW MARKET STREET, COLNE : AUGUST 2016

A combination of lens and northern hills takes a scene and concertinas it, so that it defies the laws of perspective.

1479 : Higginbottom - Black, White And A Little Grey

Higgin Street, Colne : 18 August 2016

A photograph taken from the bottom of Higgin Street, looking towards the centre of Colne. Black, white and a little grey.

1478 : Northern Xenophobia

CHURCH STREET, COLNE : AUGUST 2016

We went shopping in Colne yesterday and I managed to escape the large modern outlet shops for a walk around the old town. Whilst it is very definitely part of Lancashire, a lot of Yorkshire seems to have seeped down from the moors, like run-off from the rain-soaked peat. The rich stone, the holy trinity of bank, town hall and co-op store, the municipal pride: I think of these as being Yorkshire virtues but that is me being xenophobic. They are northern virtues.

1477 : Now You Has Jazz

JUBILEE PARADE BAND MEMBER : MARSDEN JAZZ FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 2006

Well, you take some skins

Jazz begins

Then you take a bass

Man, now we're

Getting someplace

Take a box

One that rocks

Take a blue horn

New Orleans born

"Now You Has Jazz" Cole Porter

1476 : Italianate Style - Yorkshire Grit

EBENEZER PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH, WALKLEY, SHEFFIELD

"Methodist church. 1890. By WJ Taylor. Coursed rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings and Welsh slate roof. Italianate style".

Historic England Listed Building Entry Summary

1475 : Oslo Yardarm

BALTIC BUNDLE 20 : SHIP IN OSLO HARBOUR

What better way to conclude a short series of photographs taken on our recent Baltic cruise than with a nautical shot. But these were not perched high on a P&O cruise ship - the ship's health and safety officer would have a nervous breakdown just thinking about it. They were high on a sailing ship sat next to the Azura in Oslo harbour.

1474 : Curves

BALTIC BUNDLE 19 : NYHAVN, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

A penultimate memory from last months' Baltic cruise. I took this photograph in the tourist-crowded old harbour and, at the time, I am not quite sure what attracted me to the scene. In retrospect I think it might have been the curves: the curve of the back, the curve of the fishing boats, even the curve of the concrete posts.