Mechanical Landscapes

  • #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…

  • #531 – Drone Photography – Vernon Carus 1

    #531 – Drone Photography – Vernon Carus 1

    Vernon Carus’ Penwortham Mills were one of my earliest explores back in 2007. The mill had only recently closed after the company relocated to a brand new factory a few miles up the road. The local vandals had been visiting so security had been reinstalled on site in the old security office and after a…

  • #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…

  • #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.

  • #524 – Old Negative Scans Part 4 – Royd Edge Mills

    #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…

  • #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…

  • #522 – Old Negative Scans Part 2 – Grove Rake

    #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…

  • #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,…

  • #520 – Hotspur Press Again

    #520 – Hotspur Press Again

    A few more of Hotspur Press in Manchester, this time taken with a proper camera! As I was visiting Manchester anyway, I thought I’d park in the multi storey car park behind as it would allow me to get a different perspective on the place. I wanted to capture the contrast between the new and…

  • #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…

  • #518 – Prints, Portfolios and a Body of work

    #518 – Prints, Portfolios and a Body of work

    Although the photography establishment as well as many amateur photographers looks on projects as the ultimate output for a photographer, I’ve focused more on accumulating a body of work. I can see the attraction of a project from a publishing and exhibition perspective as well as in academia, however I’ve tended to forge my own…

  • #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…

  • #516 – Hotspur Press

    #516 – Hotspur Press

    Medlock Mill, aka Hotspur Press has been on my radar for some time but has never been a priority and I always forget to take a look when I’m in Manchester. I finally remembered when I was in the area but only had my IPhone and not much time, so it’s another one to add…

  • #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…