An Evening Stroll around Media City UK

Much has been made in the British press about the BBC’s gradual move to Salford, near Manchester.  It has been explained as a cost cutting measure and also as part of the ongoing attempts to revitalise the provinces and draw some of the attention away from London.  Well that’s as may be, but I found myself temporarily relocated to Salford this week for a few days because of work.  One evening, me and my two colleagues decided to take a wander, and so I took my Nikon and my tripod with me too.  Not a great look for a casual wanderer, but it made for some interesting night time shots.  I also fell victim, for the first time, to the security guard intervention syndrome that so afflicts the urban snapper.  Luckily, this chap was quite nice once I explained myself as an amateur photographer, explaining that ‘we’re told to ask people, like’……

Above: The building works still continue, but the whole mediacity site does have something of a buzz about it.

Above: A shot of the Mediacity tram terminal at F16.

Above: The main square – the ‘Studio’ building to the right houses Childrens’ BBC and Blue Peter is also situated close by. My daughter was impressed by this.

Above: The quay looking towards the Lowry Museum.

Above: The sweeping glass facade of the CBBC studios, where you might meet actors dressed as unlikely, furry creatures.  Or a dalek or two.

Above: The sail bridge, whose lighting, like that of much of the illuminated area, changes colour constantly.

Above: This was the view from my 15th floor hotel window.  On the first evening, before the sun set, I set up the camera and tripod, and took a set of images of this view at a range of -3ev to +3 ev.  Then I merged them in Photomatix to create this interesting HDR image.  My hotel room had floor to ceiling windows, which made me feel a bit uneasy if I went too close and looked down.  In the background is Trafford Park, which is a vast expanse of goods sheds, oil depots and container haulage yards that goes on for miles, and is the size of a small town.

Above: I took this from the 15th floor lift lobby in the Holiday Inn by setting up my tripod and camera right up by the window (which needed a clean!!!) and using a polarising filter to minimise reflections.  Luckily nobody came out of the lift to see me!!!