Look up

A few years ago my pal Si Smith decided to kick about Leeds; 'looking up'... I'm not sure if he was blogging at the time (si do you have a link?) but I remember him showing me some nice sketches he'd done of the interesting architecture found hidden from the social conscious above the blinding shop fronts and SALE signs and posters.  The work ultimately helped to contribute his 'Stations of the ressurection' piece for CPAS


I've been spending time in Colwyn Bay trying to reacquaint myself with the town I spent a lot of my teenage weekends in, skating about on my blades through car-parks and alleyways, trying to find the best jumps and grinds.  When I was a teenager, trying to get served, and trying to meet girls, I certainly didn't spend much time 'looking up'.

Its quite something really around the Bay, this parade above The Prince of Wales reminds me of Chester...

In fact everywhere you look, as long as its not towards the ominous 'bay shopping centre', you get some different style and period, built for purpose, built to last.

I also managed to find time to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes; looking at redundant churches and big old buildings... these two were on my hit list...

How cool is that? its also up for sale at around £120k...  mind you I was also told that the building opposite is the local spiritualist centre... duh duh duuuh!


This one felt somehow less appealing... but still cool...

It got me thinking about getting into some of the spaces if possible... ( a favourite pastime back in Leeds... )
Alan Whitfield sent me a link to some of the places he's been into to photograph, I love the idea of his exhibition on empty spaces which was exhibited inside a current antiques shop...

...and of course my good bud Barnaby Aldrick's Urban explorations around Leeds which included the olympic swimming pool before they were pulled down.

There's something about these buildings that pulls on our guilty subconscious, nagging away at our lack of stewardship, or broken our relationships, or our sense of selling out, or our buckling under the weight of progress.  


Anyway these buildings are beautiful, and I need to make more of an effort to notice them in my day to day, they help us to live a little better somehow, to restore, to regenerate and savour in the light of the new and the prefabricated.