Taking only photographs – leaving only footprints
One of my favourite walks recently was the short walk up Holcombe Hill. Maybe it was the company that day, or the great weather. From in front of the Peel Monument we could clearly see the skyline of Manchester city centre a good few miles south of here. Ramsbotton is a very picturesque place to visit and I look forward to spending more time there in future. Peel Monument is a memorial tower to Sir Robert Peel, a Prime Minister of the UK in the mid 19th century.
Heading west along the Bridgewater canal we came to the Moorings Pub in Worsley. On a day out on my uncle’s canal barge we got many great views as we traveled from Sale to RHS Garden Bridgewater. This was the furtherest down the canal we travelled, our turning point was the Boothstown Basin here in front of the Bridgewater marina off camera to the right. This day we had a picnic lunch with us. Next time hopefully we can go into the Moorings for a pint or a meal.
This is the main entrance to Manchester’s Central Library. In front are some of the 2019 Christmas lights. In particular the bee on the right is a symbol of the city. Back in November I was in Manchester for a few short days. Whilst I wasn’t there for photography, I did find myself in the city centre one evening. This was taken on a tripod from a distance to capture the whole building and the lights. With the hundreds of people around taking their own photographs. I ended up merging three different images here to remove the people. Luckily I had the camera on a tripod otherwise this wouldn’t have been possible.
This is the Reading Room of the Rylands Library. Having lived my student years in central Manchester. I am a little ashamed to say that 2019 was my first visit inside the library. It’s a late-Victorian neo-Gothic architectural style. Opened in 1900 it has Harry Potter style vibes to the place. The library was founded by John’s wife in his memory. John Rylands was an English entrepreneur who owned large textile manufacturing mills. At its peak, the Rylands family firm employed 15,000 people across 17 mills and factories, producing 35 tons of cloth a day. In the past this type of interior photograph would have required a tripod to keep the image sharp. Modern cameras can now handle such low light settings with ease.