Alan Burnett

.... Such calculations are an exhausting and slightly pointless exercise - something akin to carrying a chair in the hot Spanish midday sun as depicted in this photograph (82,637/105,369).

My Lightroom Catalogue currently has 105,369 photographs I have taken stored on it. A quick calculation suggests that is in the region of 1,368 and a half photos a year, which is a fair old number. ....

.... Those wanting to test the assertion might want to pop into the excellent Big Six pub, just off to the right in the image, and try a pint of their splendid beer.

The image is taken from an old picture postcard from my collection, and it is a scene that most Halifax folk will be familiar with. The water fountain was presented to the town in 1869 by the temperance campaigner, Joseph Thorp. Carved on it is the slogan, "Water Is Best". ...

I've spent a fair amount of my life taking phots, and whenever I am tempted to question whether I would have been better off doing something else, I look at photos like this one. It's not a great photo; it's badly cropped and full of distracting shadows. But it's my father, and it's priceless.

.... Within a couple of years, the building, the lines, and the hanging bar were but memories, but memories captured in an inconsequential image.

Given enough time, even the most inconsequential images acquire value from a social and historical perspective. Walking under Halifax's North Bridge over half a century ago, I was taken by the hanging measuring bar on the old railway sheds. ....

... The damage to the photo tells a far deeper story - who was torn out of the family history and why?

Every picture tells a story, but very often, half a picture tells even more of the story. The picture tells the story of that moment in time when the shutter fired - the family gathered on the doorstep. I have no idea who they are - the photograph was part of a batch of unwanted memories. ...

... Britannia sits aloft, holding a trident and a TV aerial.

The industrial north has always excelled when it comes to contrasts: dark and light, green and grey, smoky chimneys and graceful statues. This photograph of mine is from the 1970s and shows the back of the Britannia Building, which stands at one end of Elland Bridge. ....

... nor is it the convivial company - pubs don't make it easy for someone who is profoundly deaf to keep up with conversations. I probably need to give it more thought - and where better to do so than in a fine old pub. Here's one I haven't been in for forty years or more.

Looking back at my life, I must say that there have not been all that many times when I have been happier than when I was sitting in a pub. It isn't easy to analyse the attraction: it's not necessarily the drink - I'm quite happy to let a single pint share my evening with me -

.... Ponies grazed on regenerative pastures.

Enough of all this modern stuff, with seagulls screaming and tall ships leaving. It's back home and back in time, back forty or more years, back to a Halifax in transition. Carpets had gone but commerce hadn't arrived, the chimneys were smokeless, but the trees hadn't grown. ...

It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me,
But the thought I might not be home in time for tea

The building in the background is the rather magnificent former Birkenhead Town Hall. The bird in the foreground is a seagull who told me his name was Stanley. The photographer was simply a visitor to Birkenhead.

… It was a delight to see a later version of that iconic vessel moored in Canning Dock today, refurbished and converted to a floating bar and restaurant. Tomorrow I intend to step on board for a pint.

When I was a little lad we would come to New Brighton on holiday. We would get the train to Liverpool and then take the Mersey ferry "across the water". Very often, that ferry would be the Royal Daffodil. …

Going To Liverpool today. I was there this time last year. Here's one I took then.

... We're going to Liverpool tomorrow for a few days, so I will see if I can reclaim my inheritance.

I bought a collection of old documents on eBay the other day, and amongst them was a share certificate from the South Lancashire Land Company. It was issued in 1873 and, as far as I can see, has never been cancelled. It would therefore appear that I own a bit of South Lancashire. ...

... As I travel through the town, even to this day, I try to spot the precise combination of houses so I can finally work out where I was standing all those years ago. As always, suggestions will be gratefully received.

I've always called this photograph "Street In Brighouse" because I have never been quite sure which street it was. I'm pretty certain it was Brighouse - the rest of the photographs on the same strip of negatives were certainly in and around Brighouse. ....

... These "nothing in particular" photographs turn out to be rich sources of social history: pawn brokers, heel breakers, and empty prams.

This was taken in London more than half a century ago. My future wife was living in North London at the time, and I would make my way there from the station, as always, taking pictures as I walked. ...

.... I have a feeling that I am one of the hooded figures in the picture (the other one being my late sister-in-law). That means my brother, Roger, probably took the photograph - but as it was on my camera and with my film, I claim the rights to it!

This is a photograph from at least sixty years ago, taken outside the Withens Hotel in Wainstalls, Halifax. The building is no longer a pub; it was converted into a private residence shortly after being gutted by fire in 2001. ...

... This, however, is a good, old-fashioned desktop with faithful typewriter and sellotaped glasses - Keele University, 1970.

I seem to have quite a collection of photographs of my desktop. Back in ancient times, these would be means of using up the last frame or two of a film before developing it. These days, it is the result of pressing combinations of keys on a computer keyboard by mistake. .....