I could look at this photo all afternoon...

[vernon]

Wow, he must like trains nearly as much as my dad does. In fact so many family holidays incorporated at least two steam railway visits our holiday snaps look like a poor homage to the above.

He had a lot of clout with the railway companies and they would supply the locomotives, rolling stock and alter schedules to accommodate his demands for each photo shoot. Shots would take days to set up with elaborate lighting rigs, cabling etc - remember this was pre digital control.

 

[vernon]

Vern, Silver Cross is very much alive and kicking despite a bit of a hiccup with the West Midlands manufacturer of those posh prams last year. However cash has been found and all is back on track, I believe. Their HQ is near Skipton, in a restored barn just a couple of hundred yards from the roundabout where the road from Nelson and Colne joins the A59. Some of the biggest customers for the old-style prams nowadays are travellers, who enjoy the bling and usually pay cash.

The photo in the OP is good and I wouldn't question the skill of the photographer but with careful cropping almost any fortuitous street snap can be made to look as if it was composed. With a few unconventional elements of composition and unexplained events captured, a street snap even acquires a mystique and becomes modern and edgy.

Is it not possible for you to make a posting without taking a sneering sideswipe at folk who fail to fit in with your tightly defined boundaries of acceptability?

I could be wrong, the highlighted phrase might be an expression of admiration or envy.

 

[Globalti]

It wasn't intended as sneering; I have a fairly good knowledge of the nursery goods retail scene in NW England and it's well known that it's the cash buyers who are keeping the factory afloat that manufactures those lovely but impractical prams. The same factory also makes the toy version, which is equally popular as a gift. I wish I had the cash to be able to support businesses that manufacture delightful old products that no longer have a mass market. If they weren't so damned heavy I would happily buy a Brookes saddle because some models, especially the Swift, look gorgeous.

 

[Archie_tect]

Is it not possible for you to make a posting without taking a sneering sideswipe at folk who fail to fit in with your tightly defined boundaries of acceptability?

I could be wrong, the highlighted phrase might be an expression of admiration or envy.

It's not a sideswipe Vern, it's what happens. Don't get so riled up about stuff.

Looking at the photo, struck me how old all the adults look- wonder where it was taken.

 

[swee'pea99]

It's not a sideswipe Vern, it's what happens. Don't get so riled up about stuff.

Looking at the photo, struck me how old all the adults look- wonder where it was taken.

'oop north, probably. Or the east end. Everyone over the age of 30 looked like that in them days. Past 30 you were basically done & waiting for the reaper.

 

[Fnaar]

Just had a quick google of Hardy's stuff... he also took this TdF one "Mountain Stage"

 

[Smurfy]

3) Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!

Those homes look like terraced bungalows. Not sure I've seen any of them before!

 

[Fnaar]

Just came across this in a book I was reading last night and was bowled over.

View attachment 40216

It's by an old Picture Post era photographer called Bert Hardy...a sort of English Cartier-Bresson...and I've never seen this particular one before, though I used to be a big fan and have a book of his 'best'.

It may not have the inyerface showiness of some of the famous 'great images', but the composition strikes me as little short of miraculous.

This page gives it as 1950s Jarrow: (Hibernian Road... had a quick look at google maps, looks like industrial units now, if the right place)

 

[Andrew_Culture]

He had a lot of clout with the railway companies and they would supply the locomotives, rolling stock and alter schedules to accommodate his demands for each photo shoot. Shots would take days to set up with elaborate lighting rigs, cabling etc - remember this was pre digital control.

Excellent, thanks for sharing.

 

[Smurfy]

You dont see those silver cross prams anymore.

I saw one of those prams a week or so back, but I wouldn't have noticed if they weren't so rare. It was an elderly lady pushing it, with I'd guess her grandchild inside.

 

[Beebo]

Looking at the photo, struck me how old all the adults look.

I was flicking through some photos the other day from when I was born. My granny would have been in her mid 50's at the time, but she looked much older, people wore old style clothes and had grey hair and walked around slowly waiting to die.
Nowadays a typical mid 50's woman dyes her hair blonde, wears modern fashions and goes to the gym.
I bet those two ladies are both under 40!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

'oop north, probably. Or the east end. Everyone over the age of 30 looked like that in them days. Past 30 you were basically done & waiting for the reaper.

Its what I said in a previous thread about old programs on the TV like 'Are you being served?' - They all looked far older than they actually were!

 

[Julia9054]

'oop north, probably. Or the east end. Everyone over the age of 30 looked like that in them days. Past 30 you were basically done & waiting for the reaper.

A few years ago we had a 1940's themed day at school. Staff and students all dressed up. I borrowed the correct style of dress, hat and fox fur from the local am dram society. Fondly imagined I'd look like some gorgeous young thing from a BBC period drama. Instead, I just looked like my own grandmother! Terrifying!

 

[Smurfy]

Those who have been to 'Steam' in Swindon will know that they have a huge collection of old photographs on display.
http://www.steampicturelibrary.com/trip-c1910/print/2830183.html

 

[hoopdriver]

Just came across this in a book I was reading last night and was bowled over.

View attachment 40216

It's by an old Picture Post era photographer called Bert Hardy...a sort of English Cartier-Bresson...and I've never seen this particular one before, though I used to be a big fan and have a book of his 'best'.

It may not have the inyerface showiness of some of the famous 'great images', but the composition strikes me as little short of miraculous.

Very absorbing and, as you say, a miracle of composition