Mechanical Landscapes

Category: Urban Exploration

  • #679 – Hatfield Colliery 4

    #679 – Hatfield Colliery 4

    I first posted my photographs of Hatfield Colliery a few years back here, here and here. But I took quite a lot on the day and I sometimes dip back into them to process one that I didn’t bother with first time around. This is one of them and while it’s maybe not of the…

  • #668 – Wood Top Mill, Burnley

    #668 – Wood Top Mill, Burnley

    While Burnley was known as a textiles town, the decline in that industry in the mid 20th century left a great deal of empty mills, and a number of these were taken over by the expanding aerospace industry. The catalyst for this was WW2 and with Burnley’s relatively remote location and skilled workforce, Lucas industries…

  • #654 – Clipstone Colliery Revisit Part 2

    #654 – Clipstone Colliery Revisit Part 2

    There were three main areas visited – the winding engine hall, the adjacent power house and the heapstead under the upcast. The winding engine hall is now used as an events venue and has a large collection of mining memorabilia which was interesting but not what I wanted to photograph. The power house was more…

  • #652 – Clipstone Colliery 2009

    #652 – Clipstone Colliery 2009

    These are some photographs that I’ve never published on this blog, although if you follow me on social media you will have seen them, and the colour versions appear on theviewfromthenorth.org. I visited here in 2009, and the site had just been cleared of all the surface buildings. All that was left was the grade…

  • #650 – Imperial Mill Blackburn 2

    #650 – Imperial Mill Blackburn 2

    As I moved out of Blackburn in 2004 and stopped working there in 2006, I rarely go back unless I have to. It’s a town I have mixed memories of, and as I wasn’t born there, and most of my friends from there have also moved elsewhere, so there’s little to take me back. Nonetheless,…

  • #641 – South Wales Road Trip Part 9 – Cefn Coed Colliery

    The primary reason for my Wales trip was to photograph the remaining mines for my typology and I have opted to photograph them all from the same side on perspective. This is easier said than done, and not all of the remaining headgears can be photographed side on, but I was going to do my…

  • #634 – South Wales Road Trip Part 2 – Penallta

    #634 – South Wales Road Trip Part 2 – Penallta

    Pennalta Colliery was my first planned port of call on my South Wales road trip. My plan was primarily to get a photo for my headgear typology and then get some from the adjacent housing estate that has recently been built on part of the site. I’d done some research on the internet to get…

  • #589 – Brierfield Mill revisited – Etchings

    #589 – Brierfield Mill revisited – Etchings

    I was revisiting my photographs that I took at Brierfield Mill in 2016 for a potential image sale, and I came across these that I took. I’d ‘starred’ them in my Lightroom catalog but had never processed them so, five years on, I thought it was about time. I’m told that although they were removed…

  • #552 – A Decade of Industrial Photography – Final Reflections

    #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…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #547 – Review of the decade – 2015

    #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…

  • #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…

  • #540 – Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station #2

    #540 – Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station #2

    As I drove down this residential street on the way to the power station, I was struck by both the normality and abnormality of the scene. An ordinary street, with ordinary houses, and residents no doubt enjoying the lull between Christmas and New Year. And yet, there on the near horizon, as it has been…

  • #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…

  • #530 – Old Negative Scans Part 10 – Dinorwic

    #530 – Old Negative Scans Part 10 – Dinorwic

  • #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…

  • #525 – Old Negative Scans Part 5 – Old Lane Mills

    #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.