This post is not my usual sort of post; even though it is still a photography post, it is not about my photography, but someone else's. It is a post on how I met new photographer friends - Helen Burrow and her husband George Coupe.
Back in March last year, being a big Brontë Sisters fan, I went to Halifax to see an exhibition of black and white images by Helen Burrow, entitled "A Brontë Reader". The photographs were of Haworth and some other places with Brontë connections. I was completely bowled over by what I saw and I wrote a blog review of the exhibition
here. A friend of Helen's happened to see the blog post and forwarded it to her. Helen then got in touch with me through an email. Her photographer husband George also send me an email regarding my review of Helen's exhibition. Unfortunately, they sent their emails to my gmail address which I don't normally use, and I did not see them for as many as ten months! It is only the other week, when I had had an issue with my blog and after I posted a question about it in the Blogger forum and then waited for a reply that I checked my Blogger associated gmail inbox. I was shocked to find Helen and George's messages there, and was mortified that they remained unanswered for such a long time. After all, it doesn't happen very often that you get such welcome emails!!! I immediately send a reply apologising and explaining the long silence, and thankfully, Helen and George replied and the contact was finally made. They were planning a visit to Haworth the following week to collect Helen's prints from the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where part of Helen's exhibition ran for the rest of 2019, after it ended at Clough Dean, Halifax. We all really wanted to meet each other, so I decided to make a trip to Haworth on the same day, which was Friday, 7th Feb.
So after a morning walk around Haworth, the pics of which I shared in a previous
blog, I finally met George and Helen in a cafe on Main Street. We had a most pleasant and interesting afternoon getting to know each other, and I do hope we will remain friends for many years to come.
Helen and George, both qualified and accomplished photographers, first met at a City and Guilds Photography class back in the 1980's, and it didn't take them long to become an item. They both excel in black and white photography and are members of
Lancashire Monochrome group. In fact, George only does monochrome photography, while Helen has also worked in colour, most remarkably in her
flower photography. They brought along examples of their work to show me: Helen's beautiful Blurb photo book of images of Brontë Country from her exhibition "A Brontë Reader"; and George, who is predominantly a portrait photographer, brought an album of prints of his b&w portraits - mainly musicians and theatre actors. They are all products of his professional work he has been doing since retiring over twenty years ago. George is also the author of several brilliant photo books, one of which is "
Photographing People".
Here are some random examples of Helen and George's remarkable work:
Helen
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| Helen pictured with her Holga camera for the front cover of a magazine |
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| "Tree On Haworth Moor" |
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| "The Black Bull In The Snow" |
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| "Sheep on Haworth Moor" |
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| "Clergy Daughters' School, Cowan Bridge" |
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| "Ruined Barn, Illinois" |
George
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| "Art Themen" |
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| "David Newton" |
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| "Nicolas Meier" |
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| "Peter King" |
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| "Snicket, Halifax 3" |
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| "Geoff Davis" |
Geoff Davis was a great, very talented street and landscape monochrome photographer from Bolton. He was Helen & George's friend and fellow Lancaster Monochrome member. Here is a link to a very interesting video where Helen interviews Geoff Davis and his wife Betty, two years before Geoff's death in 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTvywMmWcE&feature=youtu.be
"Stand where you feel comfortable and when something out there connects with something in you ...press the shutter."
~Charlie Harbutt~
(inspirational quote found on Helen Burrow's website home page)
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