admin, Author at notquitelight.com

02 Jun 2015

CHATLEY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.26AM

CHATLEY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.26AM – I’ve always wondered what was in the minds of the Victorian men that designed, and then constructed, the strange phallic tower that rises up from the centre of Strangeways Prison. Maybe the architect, Alfred Waterhouse, was obsessed with reminding the incarcerated criminals within of their weakness and powerlessness. Today, the surrounding streets see men slope past in their shiny cars, looking for women that will gratify their needs at a price that can never […]

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17 May 2015

HILTON STREET, MANCHESTER 4.31AM

HILTON STREET, MANCHESTER 4.31AM – It had rained in the early hours of the new day, and the roads were glistening with colour as fresh as a newly woven magic carpet. Any birdsong was drowned out by the raucous calls of girls and boys dressed in their finery, still away with the fairytale world of escape afforded them by the Manchester potion of music and drink. Dreamy eyed couples kissed at bus stops, desperate boys leapt in front of my […]

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15 May 2015

OLD MILL STREET, ANCOATS 4.27AM

OLD MILL STREET, 4.27AM – Old Mill Street, where the Ancoats Dispensary still exists, is at one edge of my project, the other being Strangeways. From redemption to restitution I suppose. This area, once the industrial core of Manchester, is now known as New Islington and was supposed to be the vanguard of urban development on this side of the city. And then the recession came. This particular morning the sky was clear, and the colours rich. It reminded me […]

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10 May 2015

THOMAS STREET, NORTHERN QUARTER 4.42AM

THOMAS STREET, 4.42AM – It was my first time photographing on a Saturday morning. The sodium lamps, neon and first gasp of dawn daylight created a filmic atmosphere, causing the buildings to look like the grand vision of a set designer, and the people in them extras, sent out on cue by a director eager to create the illusion of reality in this strange hour. This area of Manchester has, for centuries, been where people have come for pleasure, to […]

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07 May 2015

OLDHAM ROAD, ELECTION DAY, 4.57AM

OLDHAM ROAD, 4.57AM, ELECTION DAY – The alarm went off at 3.50am, and the birds were already chattering excitedly at the new dawn, like children up too early on their birthday. The sky hung darkly above, revealing patches of blue that reflected in puddles across empty streets and pitted car parks. The soft whirr of a milk float was all that intruded on the songs being whistled around me. I’d decided the night before on what I was going to […]

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07 May 2015

DERBY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.15AM

DERBY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.15AM – At 4AM, which is now my waking up time for Not Quite Light, I feel like death and it is only the thought of life that takes me from my tomb and out into the day. It was dark and felt as dawn could never arrive. Even the birds seemed reluctant to announce dawn this morning, as the consistent rain spattered onto the pavements. I made my way up towards Cheetham Hill to an […]

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29 Apr 2015

BACK ST-GEORGE’S ROAD 6.31AM

BACK ST. GEORGE’S ROAD 6.31AM – It rains a lot in Manchester, or so we become programmed to believe. Water follows our Mancunian lives each and every year, washing the streets and buildings. But not the cars it seems. I’d found the great American car wash by accident, and have never yet seen it in any other state than behind a barred gate and utterly shut. I’d love to know what, in particular, makes it an American car wash. Is […]

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26 Apr 2015

LUDGATE HILL, MANCHESTER 6.03AM

LUDGATE HILL 6.03AM – I’ve always felt that the soul of Not Quite Light lies in the streets around Angel Meadows. I keep being drawn back there, fascinated by the history of that small patch of ground that contains the bodies of 40,000 Mancunian ancestors, and that also inspired the work of Engels and Marx. There are buildings and towns that trade on ghosts and hauntings but never have I felt fearful of being so close to the bones of […]

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13 Apr 2015

EMPIRE TAKE-AWAY, EMPIRE STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.50AM

EMPIRE TAKE-AWAY, EMPIRE STREET 5.50AM – I’d gone to drive around Cheetham Hill the previous evening, to research for the shoot in the morning. It had been the day of the Manchester derby and United had won against a City team in decline. There were plenty of young lads still out celebrating, drunk and in small groups. The sky was as red as the Stretford End, and I watched cars patrol the streets, men in the driving seat looking for […]

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09 Apr 2015

DUCIE HOUSE, LAYSTALL STREET 6AM

DUCIE HOUSE, LAYSTALL STREET, 6AM – Ducie House used to be where the legendary Home nightclub banged out its tunes, and where I was once refused entry for not wearing “VIP” shoes. It was the early 90s hub for creative talent in the city and housed numerous designers, magazines and other young, unruly Mancs plotting to rule the world from their Manchester base. Its ground floor is now occupied by Urban Splash, planners of New Islington, a work in progress, […]

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Author Archives: admin

CHATLEY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.26AM

HILTON STREET, MANCHESTER 4.31AM

OLD MILL STREET, ANCOATS 4.27AM

THOMAS STREET, NORTHERN QUARTER 4.42AM

OLDHAM ROAD, ELECTION DAY, 4.57AM

DERBY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.15AM

BACK ST-GEORGE’S ROAD 6.31AM

LUDGATE HILL, MANCHESTER 6.03AM

EMPIRE TAKE-AWAY, EMPIRE STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.50AM

DUCIE HOUSE, LAYSTALL STREET 6AM

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