Tag: Textile Mill
-
#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…
-
#588 – India Mill Chimney, Darwen
My recent photos of the hilly landscape of Rotherham, and Jack Delano’s photograph of the Pittsburgh steps brought to mind the town of Darwen, a short drive from the Lancastrian flatlands of Chorley where I live. Like many northern towns, Darwen is in a valley, with some brutally steep streets heading up to the moors…
-
#563 – Hartford Mill 4
Last couple from Hartford Mill now, which I’d forgotten about in the fog of the pandemic. Taken from a couple of different perspectives in between gaps in the torrential rain I experienced on the day, the first one was from between the bars of a big steel gate that although locked, kept swinging wildly in…
-
#562 – Hartford Mill 3
I rarely talk about cameras on this blog. I find photography more interesting than cameras although I do own a few. I regard them as tools in the toolbox and I choose the most appropriate one for whatever / where ever I’m going. So when I decided to re-visit Hartford Mill a few weeks after…
-
#561 – Hartford Mill 2
Last week I posted some photographs taken from the ground of Hartford Mill, so let’s take a look at some of the aerial ones. Despite shooting into the light, the little camera on the drone performed remarkably well. It’s a one inch sensor so considerably smaller than my full frame Nikon but it didn’t flare…
-
#560 – Hartford Mill 1
On the way back from Hatfield Colliery, I decided to swing off the M62 at Oldham to take a look at Hartford Mill, a place I’d known about for years but had never made the time to visit. Oldham once had over 360 cotton mills, but like all the mill towns, this number has decreased…
-
#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…
-
#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
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…
-
#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…
-
#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…
-
#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
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…
-
#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 –…
-
#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…
-
#503 – 500 Post Retrospective No.3 – Mills
The mills of the north of England have held a lifelong fascination for me. Growing up in Bolton in the 1980’s meant that the towns industrial heyday had long passed and while there were still plenty of mills around, hardly any were still spinning cotton and with every passing year, more and more mills were…
-
#484 – Beehive Mills, Bolton
OK it’s a visual cliche, but it’s a scene that will soon vanish. Beehive Mills, a grade 2 listed twin mill in Bolton will soon be demolished for more housing, so I thought it prudent to go and have a look while I still could. The first mill was built in 1895 with the second…
-
#470 – Best of 2016 part 3
So a (belated) third part to my 2016 retrospective continues with a quick look at Mutual Mills in Heywood – not an explore, more a drive by as I was in the area. I’ve a few more from the Manchester area that I’ve not yet got round to posting up – I’ll put these up some…
-
#468 – Best of 2016 part 1
So, it’s a few years since I did this, but as 2016 has been a productive year photographically, I think it’s time for a retrospective. I guess it’s down to the fact that over the past few years I’ve been busy with my career and family has meant that taking photographs has not been a…
Mechanical Landscapes 