Manchester Archives - Page 13 of 14

04 Mar 2015

FROM GREAT ANCOATS STREET, MANCHESTER, 6.11AM

The weather forecast from the previous evening had promised clear skies, but I awoke at 5.25am to the sound of rain tapping against my window and distant police sirens. Out on the street the first person I saw was a thick set man, in ill-fitting tracksuit trousers and a luminous cagoule. He was maybe in his late fifties and had an unhappy, flat face, like a cartoon burglar. He was jogging like someone who knew he had to run from […]

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27 Feb 2015

RIVER IRK, EDGE OF THE GREEN QUARTER, MANCHESTER. 7.04AM

RIVER IRK, EDGE OF THE GREEN QUARTER, MANCHESTER. 7.04AM The previous evening my flatmate and I had walked his dog through the Green Quarter of Manchester. It’s a collection of new apartment blocks between Cheetham Hill Road and the River Irk that has grown over the last few years. Whilst shielding my friend’s terrier from seeing another smaller dog that was approaching, we watched a Jewish couple having wedding pictures taken in the darkened light, her in full white dress. […]

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26 Feb 2015

MJT MOTORS, GOULD STREET, 7.36AM

MJT MOTORS, GOULD STREET, 7.36AM My flatmate has a dog, an English Bull terrier. He’s a dapper man and reminds me a little of Bill Sykes as he proudly walks his pet through the Victorian streets behind Angel Meadows at night. Walking around the district that we live in is what has inspired Not Quite Light, as we talk about the history of the streets and buildings, and of our thoughts towards the encroaching modern world. In many ways, this […]

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24 Feb 2015

WHERE ONCE STOOD UNITED BUILDINGS, OLDHAM STREET, 7.17am

WHERE ONCE STOOD UNITED BUILDINGS, OLDHAM STREET, 7.17am I know the streets of Manchester’s Northern Quarter well, as I used to own a shop on Tib Street and now live in there. When I step out of the door just before dawn, I tend to follow my instincts, with no clear plan as to where I might go. This morning was one of cloudless skies. Incisive cold air turned nose tips red, and sunlight cast a sheen the colour of […]

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22 Feb 2015

NEW GEORGE STREET, SMITHFIELD SQUARE, MANCHESTER. 7.32AM

NEW GEORGE STREET, SMITHFIELD SQUARE, MANCHESTER. 7.32AM Despite there being two chain hotels and a new apartment block surrounding Smithfield Square, the only colour was from the light of the Spar. The architects of the flats have tried to make an effort with some blocks of yellow, but somehow it feels like they’ve used the last bits of Lego left in the bag. I’m never quite sure why so much of the new architecture in Manchester is grey, and there […]

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20 Feb 2015

ALIEN LIGHTS, THOMAS STREET. 6.51AM

ALIEN LIGHTS, THOMAS STREET 6.51am I’d set down my tripod outside Bar 21 on Thomas Street. The building above is Victorian, but the front of the club below is modern, with an interior featuring sci-fi themed movie memorabilia. A large man came out from inside and firmly locked the door. For a few seconds he looked at me, nodded, lit a cigarette and sauntered across the road before disappearing. A young woman to my right ran to her small Corsa, […]

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18 Feb 2015

HAND CAR WASH, DANTZIC STREET, MANCHESTER 7.20am

HAND CAR WASH, DANTZIC STREET. 7.20am This morning the sky was clear. A pure blue emerged from this grey night, and the dawn seemed to hurry quickly through, so that it was light enough for the street lamps to go off a full fifteen minutes earlier than the clouded yesterday. A sharp cold caused cars to be frosted over. Dantzic Street runs from Collyhurst Road into the city centre, where at its end the glowing, new Co-op Bank building rests, […]

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16 Feb 2015

CAGED JAGUAR, FARADAY STREET. 7.35AM

CAGED JAGUAR, FARADAY STREET. 7.35AM Manchester is unfairly famed for its rain. If it’s raining in Manchester, then somewhere else along the west of Britain is also getting it, and I’d rather this new, soft water than drought and lime. It’s not easy to photograph in though. The camera drips miserably and the lens needs constant attention. This morning my hood was up and my chilled hands were thrust deep into dampened pockets. A bin lorry, or waste re-cycling vehicle, […]

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12 Feb 2015

THE ANGEL, MANCHESTER 6.55am

THE ANGEL, MANCHESTER 6.55am Each morning I only have around 35 minutes to work in, before the light lifts and the street lamps go off. People who are on their way to work in this transient half light have tense faces, they resist eye contact, shoulders are hunched, there are no smiles. There’s a sense of isolation. Great Ancoats Street and Swan Street sometimes feel to me as if they are a tarmac moat, nestled between the city centre and […]

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11 Feb 2015

LUDGATE STREET, MANCHESTER, 7.06am

LUDGATE STREET, MANCHESTER, 7.06am I work in a simple fashion, and so it’s easy to set up once I notice something.. Just a digital camera, one short zoom and a tripod. I shoot more with a Colt 45, face to face, than as a sniper with all his telescopic sites. The morning was cold, not much love in the sky. I could tell nothing more was promised than solid grey. A car had pulled up opposite a waiting taxi, and […]

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Tag : Manchester

FROM GREAT ANCOATS STREET, MANCHESTER, 6.11AM

RIVER IRK, EDGE OF THE GREEN QUARTER, MANCHESTER. 7.04AM

MJT MOTORS, GOULD STREET, 7.36AM

WHERE ONCE STOOD UNITED BUILDINGS, OLDHAM STREET, 7.17am

NEW GEORGE STREET, SMITHFIELD SQUARE, MANCHESTER. 7.32AM

ALIEN LIGHTS, THOMAS STREET. 6.51AM

HAND CAR WASH, DANTZIC STREET, MANCHESTER 7.20am

CAGED JAGUAR, FARADAY STREET. 7.35AM

THE ANGEL, MANCHESTER 6.55am

LUDGATE STREET, MANCHESTER, 7.06am

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