The sounds of Ancoats at dawn, as recorded on my iPhone… Car alarm, birdsong and footsteps.
FROM OLD MILL TO THE END OF EMPIRE
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The sounds of Ancoats at dawn, as recorded on my iPhone… Car alarm, birdsong and footsteps.
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 […]
A brief recording on my iPhone of the sounds around me one morning at dawn. There were seagulls, birds that I’m too ignorant to name and distant cars which sounded, to me, as they passed, like the gentle lapping of the sea on the shore.
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 […]
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, […]