James

The Weeping Man

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

Several years ago, before I jacked my job in and became a professional photographer, I worked in the city of Leeds for a law firm. There was a large court yard in the middle of several office blocks and one lunch time an elderly chap appeared sitting on a bench and weeping.

He was there every day for about 3 weeks, then he didn’t come anymore. I don’t now if anyone approached him and asked if he was OK (I didn’t – just felt that whatever he was grieving about was intensely personal and I would be intruding).

 

Sharp Haw with Moor Cotton

Black And White Photography, James, Photography
Sharp Haw

Sharp Haw is a small pointed hill (1171 ft.) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. There are remains of a Iron Age Hill fort on the summit, and it is visible for many miles around. In Spring the path to the summit is through beautiful Moor Cotton.

Fairy Dell

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

Fairy Dell

This tiny copse of trees peering out of the fog is a local land mark, being visible for miles around. Known as ‘Fairy Dell’ it has a sinister side to it that most people aren’t aware of. For it is the burial place of the plague victims that killed many in our village, and those surrounding it hundreds of years ago. Few go there now and it has a ‘reputation’ of being haunted – although most folk have no idea why.

Palm Sunday Field

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

The Old London Road

This is the Old London Road near the tiny village of Towton near York. On Palm Sunday 1461, during a fierce blizzard, two massive armies fought in these fields for the Crown of England.

28 Thousand men died on the day and probably that same amount of their injuries during the following days. The Crown changed hands that day with the new King being Edward IV. The fields are pretty much as they were on that fateful day 560 years ago, nothing has changed. It is a sombre place.

Blubberhouses Moor

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

This stone marker on remote Blubberhouses moor in North Yorkshire has probably stood here for hundreds of years, pointing the shepherds and travellers to the correct path in the dark or in bad weather.