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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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, […]
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, […]