Stoating with Jon

It’s been a while since I had a good stoat around the Dean Clough area of Halifax but the opportunity arose at the start of July and I didn’t need asking twice! The occasion was a meet up with long-time Twitter correspondent Jon (@IGWM_Leeds); a chance to drink tea, have a natter and take a few pictures. We managed all three with ease.

Close to the railway station I photographed the disused Hughes Corporation building before I met Jon. I’d pencilled it in for our final stop but unfortunately when we got back after our walk there were several cars parked in front of these steps

I met Jon at the railway station and we immediately headed for what I consider to be the centrepiece of Halifax town centre – The Piece Hall. I could do worse than quote from the Piece Hall website:

The Grade I listed Piece Hall, Halifax is a rare and precious thing, an architectural and cultural phenomenon which is absolutely unique. It is the sole survivor of the great eighteenth century northern cloth halls, a class of buildings which embodied the vital and dominant importance of the trade in hand woven textiles to the pre-industrial economy of the West Riding of Yorkshire, from the Middle Ages through to the early nineteenth century.
https://www.thepiecehall.co.uk

Jon hadn’t seen the Piece Hall since it’s relatively recent (2017) makeover and so it was a logical first port of call. A pot of tea in Loafers was followed by a leisurely stroll through the historic venue and down towards the Dean Clough area. We’d both opted for rangefinders and I had with me the Canon VT (paired with a 35mm lens Jon had brought along for me to use) and my venerable Leica IIIf with its ever-present Elmar 50mm lens. Expired colour film in the Leica, fresh black & white in the Canon.

Not an auspicious start … finger in front of the lens!

Next stop was the North Bridge car park from where I’ve recently made a series of large format and pinhole images. Jon was intrigued to see the location in real life but we didn’t linger as I wanted to show him The Snicket. I’ve written about it many times over the last few years and shared many images and Jon was also familiar with Bill Brandt’s iconic image.

Jon capturing his own take on this iconic location

We then followed a route through the Dean Clough complex that I’d sketched out in my head beforehand. I also included a couple of less obvious locations that I knew Jon had visited and photographed several years before. During this we also fitted in another pot of tea and of course plenty of conversation.