Last weekend I went to Manchester to meet up with some of my girlfriend's family. It was a relaxed visit so we only visited a few places while we were there but I took a number of decent photos that I thought were worth sharing and writing about.
The first place we went to on Saturday was the Northern Quarter area. This is quite a creative area with an array of interesting graffiti, independant shops and restaurants.
Out House is an outdoor project space in the Northern Quarter. Go here to find out more: http://outhousemcr.thecolouringbox.co.uk/
Retro-gaming grafitti.
We had a little wander around in the Northern Quarter as we made our way to Afflecks. Afflecks is a multi-floored collection of shops selling all sorts of trendy things like old film cameras, retro video games and memoribillia, American sweets and treats, costumes and masks. If you have ever been to Quiggins in Liverpool it's like that. I didn't fancy buying anything but it was interesting to walk around and take a few photos.
Inside Afflecks looking down one of the staircases.
A mask hanging out in a mask shop.
A trio of reflections facing out the main entrance to Afflecks.
This and the photo above were taken looking into a wall panel of mirrors that zig-zagged off the wall.
Following this we made our way to the Manchester Art Gallery via a little wander around Chinatown and into a Chinese supermarket to grab a treat.
Mosaic of a ship in a car park in Chinatown.
The main exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery, titled 'The Sensory War 1914-2014' had a mixture of artwork from paintings, prints, photography to video. I didn't take any photos of this exhibition but there were a few pieces that interested me. Two photographs stood out; one very large landscape shot using infrared film (to pick out camouflaged enemy soldiers) and another of a barren Middle-Eastern scene with a man holding an assortment of colourful balloons. There was also a series of interesting drawings combining faces and the gas masks they wore.
Between the first and second floor of 'The Sensory War' show hung an Antony Gormley sculpture, slowly spining from side to side.
Part of the staircase in The Manchester Art Gallery.
Upper floor view on the bus on Saturday night.
On the tram with my girlfriend to MOSI on Sunday.
On Sunday we visited the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). I was mostly interested in seeing their exhibitions '3D: Printing the Future' and 'Wellcome Image Awards' so I went straight to those.
Lower section of the MOSI.
'3D: Printing the Future' had a large table in the centre of the room that you could walk around with a display of many small items of 3D printed objects; some for fun, some for artistic creativity and some showing examples of practical use like in engineering or design.
A few 3D printed objects.
3D printer busy at work!
Bez from The Happy Mondays and a dinosaur.
3D printed heart. This was made for creative purposes, not practical.
The 'Wellcome Image Awards' exhibition showcased a series of microscopic photographs of organic and man-made matter like vitamin-c, flowers and solar power cells, often blowing up from a fraction of a millimetre. It was quite fascinating to see some common things in a very different way.
After looking at this I had a wander around a bit more of the museum and stumbled across this odd looking mannequin. It looked dated and combined with its pose of shoveling coal into a fire with one hand while gesturing with the other looked unusual.
So that was some photos from that little trip to Manchester. I hope you enjoyed these photos and if you would like to get updates for when I upload new blogs or updates then subscribe below. Thanks for reading! Comments are welcome below.