Mechanical Landscapes

Category: Industrial Photography

  • #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…

  • #542 – Review of the decade – 2011

    2011 was my first full year of fatherhood and the sleepless nights coincided with a lot of business travel. Consequently photography fell down my list of priorities as my camera was mainly aimed at my daughter. Nonetheless I managed to fit a couple of explores in, and got a few snaps of the PS Ryde…

  • #541 – Review of the decade – 2010

    #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…

  • #538 – The Industrial Tourist exhibition – now open at Astley Hall, Chorley.

    #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…

  • #536 – Brent Bravo and the Industrial Landscape of Teesside

    #536 – Brent Bravo and the Industrial Landscape of Teesside

    Last year, I visited Teesside to see the Brent Delta oil rig at Able UK’s yard in Seaton Carew near Hartlepool. I wrote last time about the surreal landscape of the Tees, and how incongruous it is to see an oil rig. Actually, it blends in quite well, but it is still a massive lump…

  • #535 – Teesside Landscapes

    #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…

  • #534 – In memoriam, Redcar Steelmaking

    #534 – In memoriam, Redcar Steelmaking

  • #533 – Drone photography – Redcar

    #533 – Drone photography – Redcar

    I’ve been to Redcar Steelworks a few times, and although it’s now nearly 4 years since the plant was shut down, the site appears to be largely intact from the outside (although I know some demolition work has taken place inside). Attractive though it would be to hop the fence, I know from experience that…

  • #532 – Drone Photography – Vernon Carus 2

    #532 – Drone Photography – Vernon Carus 2

    I’m still figuring out how to compose photographs from above – while the options are theoretically unlimited, in reality, with a fixed wide angle lens and limitations on where you can fly (distance to buildings, overflying issues, etc) then in reality, interesting compostions aren’t as easy as you might think. But photographs from directly above…

  • #530 – Old Negative Scans Part 10 – Dinorwic

    #530 – Old Negative Scans Part 10 – Dinorwic

  • #529 – Old Negative Scans Part 9 Belmont Bleachworks

    #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…

  • #528 – Old Negative Scans Part 8 – Huncoat Power Station

    #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…

  • #527 – Old Negative Scans Part 7 – Albion Mills

    #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 –…

  • #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…

  • #523 – Old Negative Scans Part 3 – Ivy Bank Mills

    #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…

  • #521 – Old Negative Scans Part 1 – Cheadle Bleachworks

    #521 – Old Negative Scans Part 1 – Cheadle Bleachworks

    I’ve recently bought a proper Plustek 8100 negative scanner, which is damn slow as it only does one at a time, but the results especially when doing multiple scans of the same neg (a sort of analogue HDR) are much better than my flatbed. Obviously, like any neg scan or darkroom print without any work,…

  • #519 – Manchester – English Steel, Armstrong Whitworth and a railway line to nowhere…..

    #519 – Manchester – English Steel, Armstrong Whitworth and a railway line to nowhere…..

    Looking north to Ashton Old Road and the site of the old North Street Works This is Redby Street in Manchester, a short insignificant street in the Openshaw district.  It connects Ashton Old Road and Whitworth Street and is surrounded by wasteland. There doesn’t seem to be that much in Openshaw these days, but at…

  • #517 – Slater’s Terrace and Sandygate Mill, 2006

    #517 – Slater’s Terrace and Sandygate Mill, 2006

    I’ve recently been digging through my archive for forgotten or undiscovered images and I took a look through an album of photographs I took in 2006 around the Weavers Triangle area of Burnley. It was a bright Saturday morning and unfortunately I was shooting into the sun, a fairly elementary error in my planning which…

  • #515 – Cononley Lead Mine 2

    #515 – Cononley Lead Mine 2

    A spot of history – the mineral rights to the area were owned by the Duke of Devonshire, and to develop the mine he brought in the famous Cornish mining engineer John Taylor which would doubtless explain the Cornish style design. The engine house is thought to date from about 1840, and housed a beam…

  • #514 – Cononley Lead Mine 1

    #514 – Cononley Lead Mine 1

    The tin mines of Cornwall, or more specifically the beam engine houses are a unique site around the county. The high walled engine houses and the tall chimneys were some of the first mechanised deep mines in the country and a site unique to the south west. Or so I thought……. I was researching mining…

  • #454 – Lambert Howarth Mill Demolition

    I’d read that this mill was being demolished, but hadn’t been able to get over to see it, until demolition was pretty much complete. This is probably the last bit of the Weavers Triangle to be redeveloped, and had been empty since Lambert Howarth closed in 2005 after the owners Lambert Howarth lost a contract with M&S.…