This is one of those photographs whose story I should like to tell but do not feel equipped to do. It is one of too many from the half dozen or so albums I inherited from my grandmother, two-thirds of which originally belonged to her father, which are unlabelled and unidentified.
This is also seemingly unidentifiable, at least as to place. Obviously a photographic studio - were it not possible to read the name above the window - 'ROWLEY & CO. PHOTOGRAPHERS' - the enormous windows and skylight would indicate that, but local enquiries within the Halifax area and searches through trade directories have failed to suggest its whereabouts. And none of the posters on the wall to the right hand side are decipherable as to place either.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that the woman apparently looking in the window is not doing so with complete attention, perhaps she is waiting for someone. Alternatively, the viewpoint, from across the street, beside another brick building suggests covert observation ... Nothing so dramatic as a murder, I am certain ... but what?
What about the billboards on the right? Collinsons(?)tea and coffee
ReplyDeleteSlatter's something.......
Can you read anything else on the original? I want to know more!
These old B&Ws exude such a sense of other-worldliness sometimes, and this is one of those shots. It is probably very benign, but you are right in your thought that it might be interpreted a different way...by a writer with a creative mind. :)
ReplyDeleteOK so now I'm confused... all the references to Collinsons that I can find in association with tea and coffee are in Cheshire and Lancashire. There was a chain of tea rooms in the area. But the Slatters that I've found are all Oxford based.......
ReplyDeleteI had a look for the Thomas Lees & Co, (visible on the gable end, un-cropped version) but there's too many of them ...
ReplyDeleteYou have noticed the guy looking down from the window upstairs, I assume? He's watching her..... Love story, maybe.
ReplyDelete