Winter. Howling winds, driving rain and slate grey skies are no fun.
But when it’s freezing cold and the sun is shining, walks are bracing and photographs shimmer.
Here are the fruits of recent walks around Manchester when the light was beautiful.
Autumn leaves radiated, canals dazzled with reflections and new buildings were stellar against crisp blue backdrops. What a time to be alive with a camera…
My Manchester apartment sits on the second floor of a low rise building. But very close by a new skyscraper neighbourhood is making rapid progress.
Here are some photographs of the newest towers which I finally got close to recently. What do you think of living in the sky? READ MORE BELOW
The New Jackson neighbourhood links together the four more recent skyscrapers – the slim Blade, rotund Three60, broad Elizabeth Tower and squat Victoria Residence – with the existing Deansgate Square towers.
This crop of four high rises have dominated the local skyline for a few years now and regularly feature in my photographs.
With thousands of new homes and people moving to this part of Manchester city centre, amenities including a primary school and medical centre are being placed on site.
But is this enough along with these sparkling, sky-touching new buildings?
Life in the city centre can favour younger people, who in my own experience may be less likely to connect with neighbours and their local community. Apartment living makes it easier to close the door behind you and forget those around you.
One thing is clear – the local skyline has changed for good. Is it progress for the better?…
New Jackson (right) as seen from a Manchester roof garden
I recently visited Birmingham – the UK’s second city – on a quest to photograph some of its buildings.
And there’s a rich and varied seam of architecture to be found there. CONTINUE READING BELOW
The vibrant city centre of Birmingham is a mix of building styles, from concrete leftovers of the 1960s and 70s to innovative recent additions including the Library of Birmingham.
Encased in an elegant gilded cage, this building was my first port of call and was truly impressive. Head upstairs to enjoy an elevated view over Birmingham city centre.
Another innovative must-see is the outlandishly tactile Selfridges building with its many voluptuous curves, while the silver-topped Grand Central complex also grabs the attention.
I took a bus ride to the University of Birmingham campus at Edgbaston, where I studied for a time.
Memories came cascading back, while the library I once inhabited has since been demolished and replaced with a sleek new gold-framed building.
Birmingham may have struggled with its reputation down the years, but my architectural tour showed there is a lot to see. Even if you’re not looking up at buildings like I did, it’s a city that has a lot to offer.
The Selfridges building inspires with its curves and textures
My home city of Manchester is a heady mix of historical architecture and shiny new skyscrapers.
Travel north by train for an hour and you’ll reach Lancaster, a historic city that owes a great deal to its past… CONTINUE READING BELOW
From Lancaster train station it’s just a short walk to the city’s imposing castle, which was also a prison until as late as 2011.
Dark walls and deep crenellations give way to charming old houses around Castle Hill, some of them quaintly crooked, others with vine-covered porches.
As I wandered around the city centre on a sunny day, the dark sandstone of historical buildings persisted. There wasn’t a whiff of any new architecture, let alone the lofty glass and steel we have here in Manchester.
Lancaster may have an old shell, but it’s a thriving place filled with coffee shops, food stalls and everything needed by modern city dwellers. There was a pleasant hum of life walking around its historic streets.
Lancaster is also blessed with an old waterway and it’s well worth a diversion to wander along its towpath and under some low-slung bridges – they’ve been there some time too!
July. While southern Europe battled wildfires in intense heat, Manchester and the UK were stuck in a rut of cool temperatures and torrential rain.
Here’s an ode to June, when dry and sunny weather graced this city.
It was an era of warm photography walks in my neighbourhood of Castlefield.
Wearing shorts was the norm, local waterways were still, and the colours on new apartment blocks pinged deep into the long evenings.
What will August bring? Inevitably more worrying signs of climate change which are a huge deal for us all.
How has the weather been with you? It’s less of a banal question these days…
