North Laine windows

This week's pictures feature windows of the North Laine, a charming and fashionable district in the middle of Brighton. The North Laine's charm is the way that homes, shops, cafes and pubs are all mixed together in a network of 19th century streets. The residents and the traders of the area have a strong tradition of individuality, though its popularity means it is now hard for anyone but the rich to either live or open a business there. But the terraced houses are a visual delight and there is great variety and character crammed into a very small area. The pictures in this set are all of ground floor windows in North Laine houses. They include three that show a marvellous current (October 2006) exhibition in Tidy Street. Residents there have each chosen a family photo important to them and it has been blown up to fill their front window. The North Laine is not yet ruined while it still comes up with ideas like that.

About this site

There are currently 48000 keyworded pictures online and you can access them all from the search page. New or updated subjects include windows, wigs, leaves, aircraft and air shows, food displays and motorbikes. To explore the site, go to the information and search guide, plus the indexes of subjects, events & places and Brighton. Have a look at the portfolio and the pictures of the week series. The latter publishes ten images about a particular topic and now has 2300 pictures in total. Then there is the picture sets page which covers specific events and places. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD and prices start from as little as £8. The pages on prices and terms & conditions give further information. Commissioned new photography is also available by arrangement.

Last week's pictures featured wigs

Recent pictures of the week

 A fortnight ago the subject was leaves. Their autumn beauty is classic, but they can make a good subject at any time of the year. Changing in shape and colour almost every month, leaves have amazing variety. Nowadays, there is at least as wide a choice of them to see in the city as in the countryside. Urban gardens and our great heritage of Victorian parks have given us a fantastic range of trees and plants, whereas industrialised agriculture has reduced the variety growing in rural areas. The pictures in this set were taken in Brighton, London and Sussex.

The pictures three weeks ago were about old aircraft. The first manned flight was barely a century ago, yet flying has become almost as commonplace as bus travel, not to mention being seen as the fastest growing cause of global warming. But for all the problems of mass air transport, it's impossible not to like old aeroplanes. Like cars, old planes seem to have so much more character than modern ones. They also make more interesting noises. The pictures come from last month's Shoreham Air Show, as well as the Tangmere Aviation Museum (2003), the Goodwood Revival (2006) and a field in Kent (1988).

The picture set four weeks ago was about fruit and vegetables seen on display at a recent food market in Brighton. Food displays are timeless, but they can also say something about a particular period in time. Take the slogan on the bag in the picture above - "Food you can trust". Ten years ago it might have been seen in a handful of specialist vegetarian shops. Twenty years ago, people would have asked the shopkeeper what he was on about. Likewise the range of produce available today - there can be half a dozen types of garlic on offer when, not so long ago, there might not have been one. Choice, quality and freshness are great, but we shouldn't forget that, even in Britain today, there are millions who still can't afford it.