dawn Archives - Page 13 of 16 - 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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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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07 Apr 2015

CAR PARK, DUCIE STREET, 6.33AM

CAR PARK, DUCIE STREET, 6.33AM – This morning, the first after the Easter holidays, I was awoken not by my alarm but by an industrious bird sensing dawn at 4.55am. There was a thin but effective mist hovering above the streets, and anyone that was out seemed to have bent down their heads, as if the weight of the fog was too much on this first day back to work. The sun was due to have risen at 6.33am but […]

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04 Apr 2015

LEVER STREET, MANCHESTER 6.00AM

LEVER STREET, MANCHESTER 6.00AM – On the streets at dawn there is a relationship to the space which feels highly personal, a temporary sense of ownership even. Without the distraction of traffic and people and purifying daylight there exists an awareness of detail often absent without the collusion of shadow and streetlight. Also, and unbeknownst to them, I’ve begun to develop a relationship with the workers of the morning, the hidden heroes of our city, who have become familiar to […]

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31 Mar 2015

JERSEY STREET, MANCHESTER 6.20AM

JERSEY STREET, MANCHESTER 6.20AM I was at a friend’s house recently and Scooby Doo was on. I noticed that the drawings of the deserted buildings were often depicted in the half light, with deep blue skies and vivid foreground colours. The sets were remarkably claustrophobic for a show loved by children, with no hint that there was another world beyond the blocked shadows. The first 2 days after the onset of British Summer Time brought gales that caused an unearthly […]

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Tag : dawn

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

DUCIE HOUSE, LAYSTALL STREET 6AM

CAR PARK, DUCIE STREET, 6.33AM

LEVER STREET, MANCHESTER 6.00AM

JERSEY STREET, MANCHESTER 6.20AM

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