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 […]
REDBANK, MANCHESTER, 7.33AM About a week ago, during one of my evening walks with my flatmate, a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, approached us just near Redbank. She was well dressed in a knee length skirt, low heeled boots and a coat. She spoke with an Australian accent. “Good evening gents, sorry to bother you but I’m lost” she said. “I’m supposed to be meeting a male friend under an arch near here, we’re off to take some photographs […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]