Mechanical Landscapes

  • #555 – Swan Lane Mills, Bolton

    I grew up in Bolton, a Lancashire (or Greater Manchester) mill town, although by the 1980’s – a time when I hit my teenage years and became more aware of the built environment around me – most of the mills had closed and many had been, or were being, demolished. There were well over a…

  • #554 – Cowling Mill, Chorley

    Cowling Mill is one of the few remaining textile mills in Chorley and was a typical South / Central Lancashire red brick mill. It opened in 1906 and ran until 1959, a time when huge numbers of local mills ended production. It got put into multiple usage for many years thereafter and began the inevitable…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #546 – Bernd and Hilla Becher’s Industrial Visions at The National Museum, Cardiff

    I try to go to a few photographic exhibitions a year, normally in the North of England. But when I heard that The National Museum in Cardiff were exhibiting work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, I started to make plans for a trip as their work is rarely exhibited in the U.K. As an added…

  • #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…

  • #544 – Review of the decade – 2013

    2013 was a very demanding year – my grandparents traumatic struggle with dementia and illness which resulted in my grandfather’s death in December, a change of role at work which saw me traveling overseas regularly and moving house (just up the road) – meant photography got shunted further down the list of priorities. I did…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #539 – Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station #1

    #539 – Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station #1

    Big coal fired power stations are slowly disappearing from our landscape. The nation – indeed the world – is slowly moving away from coal burning energy generation and all of the UK’s coal burning power stations will be closed by 2025. Even before the current generation of power stations closures, the number of stations had…

  • #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…

  • #537- My next exhibition – The Industrial Tourist at Astley Hall, Chorley

    I am pleased to announce that my next photographic exhibition will open on 16th November in Astley Hall in my adopted home town of Chorley. As usual this will be my usual Monochrome photographs of mongy old mills, derelict mines, beached ships and various other industrial artefacts that litter the northern landscape. It opens at…

  • #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…