Category: Black and White
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#553 – Horwich Loco Works – The End
I first visited here as a child on the last works open day in the early 80’s, and then again ten years later at the weekly car boot sale (wish I’d taken my camera….). I visited again in 2010 when the works was largely intact but gradually the site has been demolished. Before the last…
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#552 – A Decade of Industrial Photography – Final Reflections
I always used to worry that I’d run out of places and things to photograph. It’s not so much that I let my photography define my identity, as I enjoy the whole process of research, photographing, and processing my photographs. Over the past decade, my focus has moved away from urban exploration and more into…
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#551 – Review of the decade – 2019
As per the last few years, 2019 saw no urbex and a continuing focus on the industrial and urban landscape. After several years of waiting for a drone with the spec I wanted at the right price I finally took the plunge and bought a DJI Mavic Pro 2 and it’s seen a bit of…
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#550 – Review of the decade – 2018
A most productive year, with a revisit to Redcar, some abandonment – albeit explored with permission – and more experimentation with long exposures. Pincroft Dyers – January 2018 I live at the other end of Chorley to this Dyeworks, pretty much the last remnant of Chorley’s textile industry that is still in use. It’s in…
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#549 – Review of the decade – 2017
Telamon – May 2017 I vaguely recalled seeing pictures of a shipwreck in Lanzarote, and I was delighted to discover that it was just down the road from where we were on holiday. The wreck had been there for many years and the front of the hull had long since broken off, but it made…
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#548 – Review of the decade – 2016
A more stable role at work meant I had more time to focus on photography and an opportunity fell into my lap – a commission from a PR company working for O2 who wanted to use me for a job. I also revisited two sites from a few years back, visited a re-opened Mancunian cotton…
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#547 – Review of the decade – 2015
Another demanding year – my grandmother’s health faded further and she sadly died in November. Overseas travel continued but the project was starting to wind down so I transferred to a different role. I started to pick up some momentum with my photography again with a couple of trips to North Wales and a couple…
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#545 – Review of the decade – 2014
A third barren year in succession – when will the tide turn? Time moves on and my daughter started school, business travel overseas and my grandmother’s ongoing struggle with dementia meant that again my priorities were elsewhere. But two sites visited meant a 100% improvement on 2013! Cwm Bychan Ropeway – May 2014 I’ve not…
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#543 – Review of the decade – 2012
2012 was a very barren year photographically, at least from the perspective of urbex and industrial landscape. Just the one place visited and that was a revisit to one of my favourite places – Dinorwic. Dinorwic – March 2012 I decided for this, my second visit to this enormous slate quarry, to use film and…
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#541 – Review of the decade – 2010
The start of a new decade brings with it a certain degree of reflection, mainly along the lines of ‘f**k me where have the last eleven years gone’. Over the Christmas period I noticed that the papers and other media are full of reviews of the decade, so, slave to convention that I am, I…
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#538 – The Industrial Tourist exhibition – now open at Astley Hall, Chorley.
Further to my previous post, the Industrial Tourist opened at Astley Hall on Saturday and all the hard work has paid off! Rory from the Astley Hall staff and myself (but mainly Rory) put all the frames up on Friday and I had a small opening for family and friends on Saturday. Well, I call…
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#535 – Teesside Landscapes
I saw this small copse of trees that looked entirely dead, and noticed the juxtaposition of the Teesside chemical industry in the distance. Whether I was looking at the cause and effect in the same scene, I don’t know, but that sky was begging to be photographed so I just needed some subject matter below…
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#530 – Old Negative Scans Part 10 – Dinorwic
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#529 – Old Negative Scans Part 9 Belmont Bleachworks
Taken on a snowy Christmas Day in the early 2000’s when the bleachworks was still active, this was sadly the only photograph I got of the place before it closed. While it fundamentally still exists as a small business park, the chimney has gone, the units have been clad in some awful metal cladding and…
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#528 – Old Negative Scans Part 8 – Huncoat Power Station
I made a few trips to Huncoat Power Station, as it was dead easy to explore and only about 30 minutes drive away. The first trip I primarily shot colour film (which I’ve not re-scanned yet, but my original scans from 10 or so years ago are here) and just a few black and white…
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#527 – Old Negative Scans Part 7 – Albion Mills
I’d forgotten that I’d taken a few shots on film in Albion Mill, so it as nice to see them appear on my screen ftom the scanner. The mill was another empty Yorkshire mill of no particular significance, and it was knocked down a year or so after I had a look. A shame –…
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#526 – Old Negative Scans Part 6 – Dunaskin
Dunaskin was a funny one (funny odd, not funny ha-ha). An ironworks that had bee converted to a brickworks that had closed and then reopened as an industrial heritage centre, which then closed and was abandoned. I took these on one of my Nikon F100’s with a half decent 28-105 lens on it which is…
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#525 – Old Negative Scans Part 5 – Old Lane Mills
Not many film photos from here, just variations on a theme really. I didn’t take any internally, just views across this wasteland. However, I prefer these than the ones I took digitally. These can be seen on my website here.
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#524 – Old Negative Scans Part 4 – Royd Edge Mills
Another day, another ruined Yorkshire mill. This was Royd Edge Mill in Meltham, previously home to Brook Dyers, and it had been closed for 8 years when I visited in 2007. Needless to say, it had been heavily vandalised and was pretty stripped out but I got a few good photographs from my digital camera…
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#523 – Old Negative Scans Part 3 – Ivy Bank Mills
Ivy Bank was another ruinous death trap, and I loved it so much I visited twice! My own personal death wish aside, I found it very photogenic even though I had to watch where I stood – the floor in some areas was distinctly spongy, and I erred on the side of caution and took…
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#522 – Old Negative Scans Part 2 – Grove Rake
I’ve covered Grove Rake several times on this blog as it was an interesting site and I made some interesting images. I’ve been twice – 2008 and 2015 – and on the first occasion I took a film camera as well as my digital SLR to record some scenes. It’s a bleak location on the…
Mechanical Landscapes 