My wife had to go Manchester for a work conference so we took the opportunity to turn it into a “mini-break” - a phrase that I think has to be accompanied by a hashtag. Needless to say I turned it into a photo trip. with a few highlights, mainly being amazing sun rises and sets. I was also able to tick off another WEX branch - it seems that I am unofficially bagging them like Munros. Manchester is the best so far with London being the worst if you are keeping score. The Leica store in Manchester is also worth a visit, the LCE was a bit underwhelming.

The one thing that surprised me is that normally I use a mid-range zoom for photos (16-55 on a Fuji so 24-80 ish full frame) in London but Manchester seemed to be much more confined and the 10-24 (15-36) pretty well lived on my camera.

I did my usual pre-planning by looking up photo guides of the city and somewhat struggled to find many spots. I think I broke my record for time between checking into a hotel and running out with my camera, about 4 minutes! The first place I found was the area around Lock 92 and absolutely fell in love with it. The still conditions allowed for glass like reflections (once some of the rubbish was cloned out of the images). It was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel and I got so immersed in the locks, graffiti etc. that I didn’t even realise there was an amazing sunset up higher.

The next morning was a bit tight as I had to get back for breakfast with my wife’s colleagues. I scurried out in the dark, back to the same area trying to be as efficient as possible and really I ended up rushing (literally - turns out the little bridges over the canals are not especially high friction and a skinned knee and almost broken camera are testament to that!) The light kept getting better and better, I headed up to Deansgate Tram Station and the surrounding area and got some nice shots.

I had the day to myself and couldn’t find a single thing to take photographs of. Manchester is a sea of construction and about 15 Christmas markets, all the spots I had found had fundamental issues with so my shutter count didn’t progress at all.

Guess where I went for sunset - yup, same place! To be fair, it was next to the conference centre and one of the few areas of that part of the city with a good vantage point. I turned into a tram spotter and was really pleased with the detail the Fuji was pulling out in the buildings.

The next morning was a disaster, I wanted to go to Media City, it seems that my distain for the BBC doesn’t extend to the amazing locations of their studios, Glasgow is amazing too. I intended to get there in plenty of time for blue hour but a mix of Google, my ineptitude and the Manchester bus network all ended up screwing me. I ended up 2 miles away waiting for busses that never came and ended up walking watching the light get better and better then worse and worse! I arrived to a flat horrible morning and the photos were a waste of shutter clicks. I returned the next morning (via the trusty tram) in plenty of time to discover visibility was about 15 metres! Needless to say it cleared and I was treated to some really special light.

Manchester 24

London October 24