Back Streets, Manchester by Peter Bartlett

I know the city of Manchester well having been brought up nearby and in later life, working in the city centre on several occasions. So, I have always had an awareness of what I regard as Manchester’s true backstreets – streets named “Back #€*@$+% Street”.

In the 1980s there were almost thirty such streets in the City centre. Now just twelve remain, the others demolished during the city’s regeneration.

Located in the commercial centre of the city, these backstreets are within yards of thriving thoroughfares. Yet they can be deserted, dark, dirty, ugly and cluttered with litter, rubbish and waste bins. They are, however, functional and utilitarian, providing essential service access to the rear of often grand buildings and businesses.

With their origins in the 19th century they now reflect 21st century life and I have set out to show how their current use interfaces with their historic origins before more disappear.

Peter Bartlett – Back Streets

Peter Bartlett – Back Streets

Peter Bartlett – Back Streets

Peter Bartlett – Back Streets

Peter Bartlett – Back Streets

http://www.peterbartlettimages.co.uk

Nick Barkworth Empty Streets

Foxhall

Night 4

Crossroads

Jodrell Street

CNV00034

We leave our mark across the land, no more so in the urban environment, designed and created solely for our use be that to work, to play or to simply live. The nature and culture of the urban environment, the lines, the patterns and shapes are all purposeful and with meaning. In this selection of photographs the lack of casual organic evolution is replaced by a man-made development, sometimes an interrupted sprawl and other times a more fluid vista, but nothing left to chance.

For me the urban topography of a city tells a story of the people who live there, who inhabit its space, use its roads, light up its windows at night. Only when the people leave the scene can we really see the scene.

The side streets and alleyways, as opposed to the boulevards and main roads, provide a unique insight into the people who live there. They tell a tale of bolted gates and high fences a well place lack of trust in the pedestrians who travel through them, although not present in the photograph, their presence is always felt.

I have found myself increasingly drawn to the empty street, waiting for occupants to leave an area, not wanting them to dilute the scene. A subtle filtering of the scene, I would hate the viewer’s eye to be drawn unintentionally to a shadowy figure in the scene instead of the lit window.

Its a dichotomy of my photography that I find myself increasingly comfortable with and drawn towards. Nothing should deflect the shabby glory of a north of England alleyway on a rainy day, the cobblestones and ramshackle walls are the centrepiece of the shot, the eye should not be interrupted as it is drawn along the row of street lights in the evening, nor distracted from the vertical façade of an urban car park.

I’d like the viewer to consider the environment first and then the people who inhabit it, which is at odds with its development where the people are considered first and then the landscape built around them…..if they are lucky!