I have taken hundreds of firework photographs, a few which I haven’t deleted, but it has been a year or two since I have taken my camera to a display. In fact this might have been the last time I got my camera out for a firework shoot. It was taken from my friend Matt’s flat overlooking Chester Race Course. He kindly let me stick my camera and tripod out of his first floor window. I took hundreds of photos as I always do with fireworks and this was one of the half a dozen or so that I liked enough not to delete.

Taken in the neighbourhood of Rome around the world famous Colosseum, this old Roman building is what many of the buildings around the city look like. I was particularly drawn to the way that the last light of the day was directly on this corner, making the orange colour stand out. This along with the old wooden shutters made it worth capturing in my opinion. It is a shame about the TV aerials, but I wasn’t going to start Photoshoping them out.

Every year in November the Christmas Markets come to Manchester. Here we see the zippy look-a-like Father Christmas with the gothic Manchester Town Hall in the background. I was worried how dark the foreground would turn out with it being late in the afternoon and the sun in the wrong place, but the iPhone in HDR mode seemed to handle this scene very impressively. It was another test shot for the new camera / phone. Don’t worry though, I won’t be giving my DSLR camera up any time soon!

The Bridgewater Hall is a large, modern concert venue in Manchester city centre. Opened in 1996, not only is it the home to The Halle orchestra but it is where I had my university graduation back in 2009. Strangely this is the first photograph I have published of the Hall and this was not only taken at night but taken back in 2007, how it never made it onto the site I do not know.