Beauty is in the Eye of the BehOldham (sorry!)

There are people who constantly look for things to complain about and seek out only the bad and ugly in things; then there are people who look around them for the good and the beautiful - even where it isn't that obvious.

Those are the people I like.

Our town has had its detractors of late, and dear old Oldham is certainly not without its problems; but I get tired of the insidious dripping water torture of complaint that we read in our local paper. There should be a test before people are allowed to put pen to paper: is their aim positive and constructive or is their aim to cause disharmony and unhappiness? Don't get me wrong, I don't expect people to have a sunny disposition and shed light wherever they go, but I do like to hear at least the merest hint of a suggestion of a solution when someone snipes at something.




Anyway, I can feel this developing into a rant so, while we are on the subject of light (were we?), I was delighted to see the results of the latest Oldham Flickr Group meeting. For the uninitiated, Flickr is a photo sharing site, and the real experts band together in groups to develop their art. The Oldham group certainly seem to have the nack of finding beauty around them - more power to their lenses I say!


The glass bridge is a perfect example of just the sort of thing I mean. The bridge is at the heart of one of Oldham's rougher areas and it is tempting, when there, to be constantly looking over your shoulder or clinging tightly to your handbag rather than appreciating the architecture!

The Great Photography Con

Hartshead Pike is a bit of a monument set on a bit of a hill pretty much on the boundary between Oldham and Ashton Under Lyne; it is a memorial to some or other royal wedding a long time ago. When we were kids it was that place that was just to far to be allowed to cycle alone - but not so far to be too scared to go or the place for your first hike with cub scouts - only 3 miles from home; but it felt like the countryside.The reality though, was that despite the fabulous view out over the City of Manchester and the Cheshire plain to the distant Welsh mountains in one direction, in the other

it was backed by Mullaney's Scrap metal yard; a land fill and surrounded by scrappy farmland with scruffy sheep. Now Hartshead Pike is simply a shortcut to avoid traffic for those who know it.

Last week Lisa posted this photograph on Flickr and set me thinking. Had the picture appeared in a glossy holiday brochure you could be forgiven for wanting to actually take a trip to Hartshead Pike. So has it always looked like that and I haven't noticed, or is photography - the art whose device never lies, we used to be told - a con, there to fool us in to believing what we might not otherwise believe. I mean to say look at the sky: it never looks like that over Manchester... does it?