'Lessay Abbey, Normandy, France' by Ursula Clark (1940-2000).
Two of the recently-discovered images by the Newcastle upon Tyne photographer.
The full story in my latest Pressphotoman blogpost. Link below.
The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #WinterSurvivors - birds that remain throughout your winter season. The alternative is #corvids - birds from the Corvidae family.
My choice today is my Little Egret friend. 🥰
#kentbirding #birdphotography #eastcoastkin
Jen is an incredible wildlife photographer. Her style is instantly recognizable – the mark of a real one, if you ask me.
Fantastic, thank you!
It's actually real now!
Chrystal's shade will be delighted with that!
Thank you! That's extremely kind.
Fantastic piece here; the only things I'd add is to reflect on the gentle, affectionate nature of the satire; & that the accompanying texts (by James T. Callender?) are essential, and contain vast amounts of information and insight about individuals & society just not found anywhere else.
Spent part of @inpursuitusa.bsky.social launch @nyhistory.bsky.social with teachers looking at Rev-era documents, including this early 19th c. facsimile copy of the Declaration, set against the 1773 freedom petition by Peter Bestes, Sambo Freeman, Felix Holbrook,& Chester Joie from Massachusetts.
Gets so much harder after 1945 to track people down! 1860-1914 a kind of records golden age.
Just having a look through the Adam Malcolm Dumbiedykes work now - really interesting stuff here, thank you!
Something personal here, a repaying of a debt to an Edinburgh photographer of the pre-1939 era whose work helped me attempt my own projects and acclimatise to Edinburgh when I was first here. The (melancholy in places) story of Francis Maxwell Chrystal: lixmount.substack.com/p/francis-ma...
Curious to see what’s inside our new Anthotype book by @malinfabbri.bsky.social ? 🌿
It takes you step by step through the process – and a lot more!
Ready to learn? See:
👉 www.alternativephotography.com/anthotypes-c...
#anthotype #anthotypes #altprocess
Some recent nonsense.
Night-time photo of a main road in Birmingham. The road here is in a steep sided cutting. There is an indicator showing which lanes are available for traffic, and the lights of the cars become streaks from the long exposure. Lights from buildings in the upper distance.
Aston Expressway, Birmingham. My photo 1980.
For Henry Fox Talbot's birthday, my favourite of his prints - this magical glimpse through curtains out onto ships in the harbour at Rouen, 1843. To go with it, @roseteanby.bsky.social 's article on Talbot's Rouen for the Talbot Catalogue Raisonné blog - talbot.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/2018/03/09/t...
Some current work stuff
Three books: Francis Bedford "Cairo to Constantinople", Mike Weaver "The Photographic Art" and Vera Punter's "Whitsunday's Child: A Country Life in Pictures".
Also called in on McNaughton's Bookshop on Elm Row, who are currently offering 40% off any purchase of three books. So: Francis Bedford's glass plates of the Middle East; Mike Weaver on photographical portrait tradition, and a charming album of one woman's life in an English farming community.
Ink drawing of a young man standing next to a desk where an elderly man reads a letter. The old man's dog sniffs at the young man.
An old man by a fire contemplates a standing figure carrying a letter who has just entered the room.
Popped into the Scottish National Gallery to see David Wilkie's fine preparatory drawings for one of my favourite Scottish paintings, 1813's "The Letter of Introduction". Exhibition closes today, as do the Francis Cadell war drawings and Burns in art exhibs.
llustration from 'The Channel-Stane or Sweepings from the Rinks (Edinburgh: Richard Cameron, 1883)' showing curling stones and a curling broom in a winter landscape with a church in the background on a snow-covered hill. The sun is low in the sky showing that the day's play has ended. The title, 'The Roaring Game' is written in a fancy script
New on the blog: 'The Curious Case of the Missing Curling Stone' - a Tale from the Session Papers of @signetlibrary.bsky.social: www.kgbaston.co.uk/2026/02/05/t... #TalesFromTheSessionPapers A curling stone has been missing for three years, but now it's been found. Or has it?
Lovely to see this review of @books-borrowing.bsky.social! I'm so proud to have been a part of this amazing project. 📖 borrowing.stir.ac.uk
And a DELIGHT to read this review of us! Thank you, @sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social ! 😍
Some recent work stuff:
We recently finished the research phase of our project on the archive of John Watson's Institution funded by the @oldedinburghclub.bsky.social Jean Guild awards. Dive in here: www.wssociety-heritage.co.uk/2026/02/02/t... Research by @kgbaston.bsky.social and @johockey.bsky.social
No - thank you!
Over on ‘All Old Strange Things’, in my first free post of the year I offer some reflections on @benmachell.bsky.social’s extraordinary book ‘Chasing the Dark’ open.substack.com/pub/drfranci...
#ICYMI this week a new - FREE! - article was published.
It looks at the Railway Work, Life & Death project, and how we work. #Railway200
Read it now!
Speaking of Substack, I see your Advent Calendar there has been making itself felt: open.substack.com/pub/robertsd...
Planning to try organise a public screening for the 75th anniversary of the première, which I put in February 2027
