I recently received an upsetting phone call from walk The Plank, to tell me that a section of their newly built HQ in Salford had been badly damaged by fire. I was invited down to take some photographs of the aftermath after one of the owners, John Wassell, decided that this moment in the history of WTP needed recording. As I’d photographed the process of the building’s construction it seemed appropriate for me to take the pictures. John also saw […]
NQL now has an hourly monthly show on Manchester based station Reform Radio. Click the link to listen to the July show online: NQL ON REFORM RADIO
I’ve begun a monthly Not Quite Light radio show with Reform Radio. The first one was broadcast at 5am on July 24th, with the next one due to go out in August. The hour long programme consists of a mixture of readings, interviews and music inspired by the half light of dawn. This is the ‘listen again’ link to hear the first epiosode: NQL on Reform Radio
On Monday 4th June I will be interviewing Dave Haslam about his newly published book, ‘Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor’ at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester. The book recounts Dave’s life in Manchester from the early 1980s through to the present day, and takes in tales of love, music and personal revelation. It’s a parable for those times, and brilliantly evokes the chaos and excitement of the Hacineda years, as well as taking us through the decades that […]
This film was made in 1927, directed by FW Murnau and is considered to be one of the great movies from the era of silent films. I watched it recently, and found it beautiful both visually and in it’s tale of love and redemption. This is the Wikipedia entry
Cottenham Lane, in Salford, is not far from Strangeways prison. Two mills ( one of which houses Private White VC ) run virtually its whole length, before the cul-de-sac comes to an abrupt halt at the banks of the Irwell. A footbridge at the far end can either lead you to, or away from the city centres. In the distance new Salford and Manchester rise ever more square and shiny, and are as different to the brick factories as a […]
In this episode of the Not Quite Light Podcast I spend dawn with those that feed us. I travel the city centre streets of Manchester with Dave, a milkman with Creamline dairies. I take in the smells and sounds of the wholesale market at Openshaw with Lucy Noone and her dad Mike, who run R Noone & Son, supplying fruit and vegetables to cafes and restaurants across the North West. And I watch fresh bread being made at the Trove […]
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW FULL SIZED Photographs from a night spent inside the interior of the London Road Fire Station in Manchester, recently saved from demolition and now due to evolve into a hotel, workspaces and apartments.
Following on from my visit to Dartmoor last year, I’ve produced a new podcast based on the experience. The word magical us used easily, and often in terms of joyful, childlike responses. That magic was present on Dartmoor, but there was also an unsettling darkness that followed me. You can hear more of what I’ve got to say by listening here… I also interview Manchester based artist Claire Riley about working at dawn in the city, and our need to […]
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW FULL SIZED Whilst I was in Dartmoor the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia arrived, bringing with it sand from the Saharan desert. I could feel the energies of the ancient land be changed as nature raged across the moorland. THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS TAKEN FROM THE PODCAST BASED ON MY JOURNEY TO DARTMOOR. NQL PODCAST- DAWN ON DARTMOOR The house where I was staying on Dartmoor was in a hollow. Growing up […]