MIDDLEWOOD LOCKS 7.27AM Walking towards Middlewood Locks, down Oldfield Road in Salford at around 6.40am, I was passed by a young man carrying on his back a case containing a tuba, or maybe a euphonium. His head was down, lost in thought as he made his way, I assumed, to some orchestral practice somewhere. I’m not sure why I found this slightly absurd, but I did. I wondered, should he practise at home, what it must be like living next […]
Islington Way, Salford 6.44am The birds seemed louder on this morning, than they had been for any of the previous week. As I stepped out of Islington Mill, a robin bounced near my feet, as if leading me like a pied piper. It moved without fear, clearly used to people passing nearby. The only time it stopped was to listen to the melody messages flying through the air, an air which also carried a scent of change that raked my […]
DUCIE STREET, MANCHESTER 6.49am The Piccadilly Eastern sky was covered in cloud, so that no stars were visible. Blackbirds sang urgently, as if hurrying me up, worried that I’d not be ready for first light as I meandered around Ducie Street. The area was far from peaceful and quiet, even at this early hour. It felt as if nothing would remain the same for long here. A concrete mixer crept slowly by, looking for a place to settle. I silently […]
HULME PARK 6.34AM Hulme Park exists adjacent to the Mancunian Way, its grass and trees entirely overlooked by the phalanx of huge glass towers that have now formed up on the opposite side of the inner ring road, one of the many tarmac moats that encircle the city centre. Ahead of the following morning, I was out in the late evening scouting the landscape. In this semi-darkness, the sharp sheen of the block’s regimented elevation panels were criss-crossed with bands […]
FIRST LIGHT: 06.06 SUNRISE: 07.22 It was an odd morning, where I felt out of place, harassed by circumstance. It rained, quieting the birdsong. The man operating the car park was suspicious of my presence, and set me a deadline to leave. “Next time ask the boss for permission first” he said. There was no contact number on the signs, just warnings as to the cost of parking there without consent. Cars filled with construction men began to arrive, invading […]
THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION PRINT, AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY VIA SAUL HAY GALLERY Fear comes with me when I work in the twilight. As I stand by my tripod, waiting for minutes to pass as I take my photographs, I’m as much engaged with risk, as I am with the scene before me, constantly casting around for signs of danger, animalistic instincts awoken by my isolation in darkened surroundings. In the stillness of half-light, everything is exaggerated. Sound, […]
THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION PRINT, EXCLUSIVELY VIA SAUL HAY GALLERY… When is dusk? For me it’s a period of time that can last for over an hour. If you’re staring at a darkening sky, searching for the last of the light, it’s a state of mind as much as anything else. There was a sign on the railings that quite clearly stated that the park would be locked up at dusk. The winter sky was awash […]
THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION PRINT EXCLUSIVELY VIA SAUL HAY GALLERY It’s not the clock that sets our feelings towards any particular space, it’s light, or its absence, setting that particular agenda. And now that it’s winter time, when dusk falls across the end of the working day, our familiar paths home become shrouded in darkness, altering our perceptions of known places. And so we tend to gather around around light. On a recent Friday tea-time, I’m […]
I actually began in Macclesfield Forest, on the night of the full moon for my project ‘Our Future is Ancient’. After sitting in the car for several hours, watching the trees defend themselves by twisting and twirling in the gusting air as rain fell hard and consistently, I decided to return to the city. The day was just emerging as I was passing through the Piccadilly area, so I stopped to photograph. It’s an area still awaiting its fate as […]
PICCADILLY STATION 04.22AM April 2020 LISTEN TO DAWN AUDIO FROM PICCADILLY Manchester Piccadilly comes into view not long after the London Road has bent under the Mancunian Way, on the way in from Ardwick. This terminus station was built high off the ground, the trains arriving and leaving by tracks laid on viaducts of tainted, red brick. The surrounding area sets the standard for Mancs, being a place of compromised promise, of bold ambitions impaired by the nagging ghosts of […]