A dark winter evening walk along Manchester’s canal paths is not for everyone. It can be desolate, dingy and a little unnerving.
But I went with my camera to capture some of the urban canalside atmosphere. I left my tripod behind and relied on slow exposure speeds and the pools of man-made light.
At times it was just too dark, but there was still a lot to see… apart from many other human souls.
When the winter days and nights are dark, it’s natural to seek sources of light.
At my workplace in Salford’s MediaCityUK, very early starts are full of coloured light which shimmer on damp winter days. It’s more muted in my neighbourhood of Castlefield where the brickwork is older.
And indoors, it’s hard to beat the comforting glow from a cluster of candles. At least the nights have started to shorten now…
All photographs taken with my smaller, portable Fuji X100T.
Finally, after many years of good intention, I have visited Croatia. This Adriatic country, blessed with a rugged coastline and peppered with islands, is best travelled on a small cruise ship. That’s exactly how I took in southern Dalmatia, from the spectacular city of Dubrovnik to its sleepy little ports.
Croatia is truly photogenic, and with its calm seas and early summer skies, blue is abundant. For the first delve into my photo album, I’ve picked out my favourite notes of blue from a memorable trip. It’s a place you should add to your wish list if you haven’t already done so.
A dusk view taken at Pomona Strand, a rather desolate stretch of Manchester’s canalways which sits between the city zone and the new buildings of Salford Quays. Very few people alight at Pomona tram stop.
After darkness falls and you venture deeper into the quays, the light and reflections intensify, urban landscape and water play against each other beautifully.
Night falls quickly in the Middle East and lasts a long time. Evenings can turn quite chilly in the depths of what passes for winter there. In Qatar’s showpiece capital city, Doha, the darkness is immediately studded with the twinkling lights of its many skyscrapers.
My haven for capturing this multicoloured cityscape was the jetty at the St Regis Hotel, my palatial home there. It was always empty, giving me peace and space for some long exposure photography.
There were also other places to capture the bright night city, including Z Lounge, a swish cocktail bar perched on the 61st floor of a tower block – a spectacular view but harder to photograph. And in the evening hubbub of the city’s souk, I found the entrance to a restaurant bedecked like Aladdin’s cave. You’ll never be afraid of the dark in this city…
