ANCOATS, MANCHESTER 5.24AM The decision as to where I will photograph at dawn is often taken the moment I turn the ignition in my car. A flock of choices swirl around my head, as if a strong breeze has caught a pile of carefully folded orders, and I must somehow pluck one out of the air. Once I’ve grasped my instructions, I’m aware and accept that I’ve set off on a particular path of fate, and that what I encounter […]
HIGHER BROUGHTON, SALFORD, SPRING EQUINOX 5.49AM The previous evening had been spent with a close friend, wandering the haunts of his past life as a student living in the area quite some years ago, him scampering childlike up and down the street where he had once shared a house. He marvelled at the changes, minimal to my eyes, but to him an era now lost and forever altered by passing time. The area’s residents are now often Orthodox Jews, and […]
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 morning in the previous week. As I stepped out of Islington Mill, a robin bounced near my feet, as if leading me like a pied piper, moving without fear, clearly used to people passing nearby. The only time it stopped was to listen to the melody messages flying through the air, a cold air which raked my nostrils, and carried a scent of […]
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 blocks’ 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, as I take my photographs, waiting for minutes to pass, 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 the half-light, everything is exaggerated. […]
THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION PRINT, EXCLUSIVELY VIA SAUL HAY GALLERY… There was a sign on the railings of Whitworth Park on Denmark Street, that quite clearly stated that the park would be locked up at dusk.But when is when is dusk? The winter sky was awash with fading streaks of yellow and orange and rich, slate blues, and the density of trees in Whitworth Park had already cast the grounds deep into shadow, surely dusk? But […]
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 indeed the absence of light, that sets 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 […]