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Tag : photography

24 Nov 2015
whittle's croft in manchester at dawn

WHITTLE’S CROFT, MANCHESTER 6.17AM

WHITTLE’S CROFT 6.17AM The rain was bouncing off my hood, the tippy-tap noise being my only company in this small side street tucked away behind Ducie House. I saw no-one and no-one saw me. If I’d been more of an animal than my modern, city self I’d have gone to shelter on higher ground. The lemming leaves lay dead on the ground, except for two which remained like young lovers looking into the sunset on the last night of their […]

08 Nov 2015
garage on cheetham hill road

CHEETHAM HILL ROAD 6.06AM

CHEETHAM HILL ROAD 6.06AM I was house sitting for a friend in the south of the city, and he’d kindly lent me his car to use whilst he was away. It’s a lovely car. Big, white as an American’s teeth and full of fancy features that somewhat confuse me. I felt like a pimp as I parked it down a side road just off Cheetham Hill Road. I’d seen the picture I wanted to take a few days beforehand. It […]

01 Nov 2015
Jersey Street Ancoats Dawn

JERSEY STREET, ANCOATS, 6.07AM

JERSEY STREET, ANCOATS, 6.07AM Is the sense of change greater with Autumn than with Spring? As the year ends, the dramatic death of the leaves and the darkened days are perhaps linked more to a fear of the unknown than the hope and anticipation that arrives with May blossom and longer evenings. I set up my camera at the top end of Jersey Street. The city centre was beyond view here, although it’s almost close enough to walk, and I […]

28 Oct 2015
Tib Street Manchester at dawn

TIB STREET, NORTHERN QUARTER 7.27AM

TIB STREET, NORTHERN QUARTER, MANCHESTER 7.27AM When I tweeted an iPhone picture after this shoot I wrote “I didn’t end up where I thought I would”. Sometimes I set off with a clear idea in my head of where I want to be, perhaps having already been there previously, but sometimes things don’t appear as I think they will. Streets and views that look inviting in the day can simply not be as I want them to be in the […]

20 Oct 2015
strangeways at dawn

SHERBOURNE STREET, CHEETHAM HILL, 7.22AM

SHERBOURNE STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 7.22AM I was a still a boy when I first saw Strangeways prison. My mother drove past it, and the strange tower, rising up from amongst the dense walls, haunted me during that night’s sleep. Was this the future of men? Since then it’s inescapable presence, poking into the Manchester sky, has fascinated me. I’ve decided that Strangeways and Empire Street should form one of the boundaries for my project, and that the best place to […]

12 Oct 2015
jersey street ancoats manchester dawn

JERSEY STREET, ANCOATS, 6.41AM

JERSEY STREET, ANCOATS 6.41AM The top of Jersey Street is separated from the creators and new residents of the regenerated Ancoats by a small, humped bridge. In front of the estate, that looked towards the flourishing city centre skyline, had been placed a Free School. The grey, fenced in Portakabins caused it to look more like a holding centre for refugees than a place of learning for young children. A man in a hi-vis jacket was patrolling the gate as […]

20 Sep 2015

CORNELL STREET, ANCOATS, 6.24AM

CORNELL STREET, ANCOATS, 6.24AM It felt, on this early Autumn morning, that there was a boldness to the birds singing their dawn songs, and the night sky was showing early pools of blue. Clouds shrugged and melted away, leaving a definite zing in the air. Soon there was a simple, unspoilt patch of sapphire colour above me and the day promised to be clear. I arrived at the bottom of the terraced streets that lie behind the Express building, an […]

02 Sep 2015
passions-massage-parlour-manchester

PASSIONS, DUCIE STREET, 5.36AM

PASSIONS, DUCIE STREET, 5.36AM This morning there was the musk scent of early Autumn. I breathed in deeply, and the air rasped the inside of my nose, causing my nostrils to flare. A softening mist embroiled the warm, enticing lights that illuminated streets as old as the professions that once lined them. An open doorway at the side of Passions massage parlour, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, revealed stairs leading up to a first floor that […]

26 Aug 2015
radium-street-wing-yip-andcoats-manchester

RADIUM STREET, ANCOATS 5.43AM

RADIUM STREET, ANCOATS 5.43AM My alarm went off at 4am, and a couple of early birds were already chirruping as I turned on the light, causing me to hurry onto the street around 20 minutes later. In the the sky above me, though, there was not even a hint of daylight. For some reason, they’d begun their songs of hope a full hour before the dawn actually arrived, and I felt deceived. I pulled up my hood against the thumping […]

01 Aug 2015
store street piccadilly manchester

STORE STREET, PICCADILLY 4.43AM

STORE STREET, PICCADILLY 4.43AM When I can see that the dawn will be clear and rain free, I try to look East, where, behind Ancoats, the sky begins its daytime shift soft and golden. As this morning began there was a stillness in the area, at odds with its past and its future intentions. Here, amongst tatty trees and unruly undergrowth, living is slowly encroaching upon working as factory units begin to quietly retreat, and flats trespass further into what […]

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