WELCOME TO THE SECOND NQL CREATIVE WEEKEND EVENT!
FRI 24th / SUN 26TH OCTOBER 2025
THE WEEKEND THE CLOCKS GO BACK…
NQL HQ ISLINGTON MILL
JAMES STREET, SALFORD M3 5HW
FRIDAY 24th OCTOBER
AN EVENING OF FINE FOOD, GOOD CONVERSATION, PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC.
Join Not Quite Light for the first evening of ‘Mystery’ at the Creative Weekends.
WITH SPECIAL GUEST EYONA – ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC GENERATED WITH ANALOGUE TAPE LOOPS & IMPROVISATION ON VIOLIN.
DINNER 6.30pm -7.30pm
The evening will begin with a delicious 2 course dinner at the wonderful Deli Lama cafe, situated just across the courtyard from NQL HQ at Islington Mill. The price includes a welcome drink and a main and desert. There are only 12 places available, to keep the evening social, allowing everyone to sit around one big table.
PERFORMANCE 8pm-9.30pm
The studio will open at 7.30pm ready for the performance to begin at 8pm, allowing time for dinner guests to join the audience. Again, places are limited to retain a unique, intimate atmopshere. The evening will begin with artist NQL performing text to projections of newly made work and sound, and then we’ll have an ‘In Conversation’ with a special guest, to be revealed on the night. Each month this section of the evening will feature someone from the arts, either a musician, writer, visual artist or performer, who has a fascinating story to tell. The evening will finish with live music.
Drinks will be available from the Deli Lama bar.
SATURDAY 25TH
OPEN STUDIO 1PM-4.30PM
Visit Not Quite Light in the studio, and see latest work, shown as films and prints, and chat to me, the artist, about the work.
It’s free to attend, but you can book tickets, which will give me
some idea of numbers. Donations are welcome!
The Deli Lama cafe in the courtyard is open until 5pm, and each
guest to the studio will get 10% off their bill for food and
drink.
DUSK PHOTOWALK – ANGEL MEADOW 5.45PM – 7.15PM
Join me at dusk for a magical walk, on the weekend when the clocks go back, taking us into the long, dark nights of winter.
Angel Meadow holds a special place in the mythology of Manchester, as the city evolved from a small, buccolic town to place of industrial power, bringing with it power, wealth, poverty and misery. I often say that the area around Angel Meadow is a Crucible land. Most famously, at one end of what is now a park, there is a mass burial ground, where perhaps 40,000 are buried.
The Meadow and the nearby Irk Valley are now undergoing new change, financed by the vast wealth of Hong Kong business, and in a decade the area will look very different.
This photowalk will take us through the Meadow and up the Irk Valley, allowing us time to engage with the history and architecture of this special place, whether that be the new high rises, or the spectacular Victorian railway bridges over which trains have trundled for 200 years. You can really sense the ancestors of Manchester here.
I’ll be on hand to offer tips and inspiration for photographs. The walk is suitable for any level, and you can bring any kind of recording device – smartphone, dslr or film cameras, or even no device at all if you simply want to stroll and absorb the sights and sounds arround you. The walk is about giving ourselves permission to slow down and closely observe the world around us.
At the end of the walk there is the option to visit a local pub and look through the pictures, and learn some basic processing using a free app.
SUNDAY 26TH
DAWN PHOTOWALK 6.30AM – 8AM ( First Light 6.38AM ) Meet outside Sadler’s Cat
Join Not Quite Light for a contemplative dawn walk around NOMA, exploring the quiet streets as the day begins. This is the first morning of the clocks going back, so we can consider the world around us as we leave the summer months behind, and enter a new season. The walk will be suitable for all levels. I’ll be on hand to offer tips and inspiration for photographs. The walk is suitable for any level, and you can bring any kind of recording device – smartphone, dslr or film cameras, or even no device at all if you simply want to stroll and absorb the sights and sounds arround you. The walk is about giving ourselves permission to slow down and closely observe the world around us.
SMARTPHONE WORKSHOP 2PM-5PM
6 PLACES £25.00 ( +£1 booking fee )
DO YOU LOVE TAKING PICTURES ON YOUR PHONE, AND WOULD LIKE TO BE EVEN BETTER?
Taking pictures of that beautiful sunset, but somehow the camera doesn’t quite see it as you do? Want to treasure your memories from trips away, those cute little streets, or that idyllic beach, and you’re not sure how to? And those special family moments, that are so important. Or maybe you simply want to simply capture the place you live?
Join me, with my decades of photographic experience, for a simple, fun and affordable day, to help you take the pictures you want, and get the best out of your phone’s camera.
HOW?
Rainstorm, the picture Not Quite Light is perhaps best known for, was taken on an iPhone 6. The Guardian runs a weekly slot showcasing smartphone photography, and so it’s clear that you don’t need a fancy DSLR to make great photographs.
These days smartphones are very sophisticated, and they take a lot of the guesswork out of exposing the photograph correctly. However, you still need to be able to ‘see’ the picture, get the best composition, time when when you press the shutter and process the image so it looks professional.
This simple and fun workshop will show you some handy tips and techniques that will help take your smartphone photography to the next level. Not only will we look at how to get the best out of your phone’s camera, we’ll also explore ways of observing the world around you like a photographer, so that you’ll be able to take great pictures on any device. Think how great this will be for travel pictures, or on special occasions!
BOOK NOW – LIMITED PLACES