Formidable Photography | Mark McGowan

Abandoned

2012-02-09T08:57:52Z

On Sunday I went out looking for graffiti to photograph – I found plenty of graffiti (more of that to come shortly) and this sad little fella. He’d been left on Mann Street, which is behind Grafton Street – I’ve never really explored the rest of the area as I’d always been distracted by the graffiti there – Mann Street was a hidden gem graffiti-wise, tons of stuff to post from there.

Print available here

Late Night Liverpool

2012-01-30T22:23:00Z

And now, for something completely different – from the sunrise view to a night time view of the Liverpool waterfront. I normally try and follow ‘the rules’ of dusk/night photography and capture photos when there is still some light in the sky but this one was taken later on – it’s good to break the rules now and then.

Some non-waterfront shots coming up soon, promise…

Liverpool Sunrise

2012-01-26T09:13:41Z

The first hints of light appear behind the Liverpool skyline, shot from Woodside Ferry Terminal.

Infamous Last Words

2012-01-22T21:58:51Z

More graffiti from Grafton Street – I’ve got quite a collection of images from there now.

Jaume Plensa – Yorkshire Sculpture Park

2012-01-19T08:27:19Z

Jaume Plensa exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Plensa created the Dream statue on the outskirts of St.Helens, which I love so when I found out he had a massive exhibition at the YSP I was always going to go.

I’d never been to the park before and was amazed at the sheer size of it and the amount of work contained within – if you’ve never been I’d definitely recommend it and if you want to see the Plensa work, you’ll have to be quick – the exhibition finishes on the 22nd of January.

Prints available here

Goodbye 2011!

2012-02-02T08:38:52Z

A little late (just for a change) but it’s a nice way to see the old year off, posting one from this year. This is Mayville Street off Allerton Road with the setting winter sun behind it, taken on a walk on Monday 2nd.

2011 was a bit quiet photographically speaking, although I definitely still had some highlights – my trip to Hungary in the summer gave me my favourite shot of the year, The View From The Citadel as a thunderstorm made it’s way across Budapest and also a series of photos from a Russian Army graveyard. A little closer to home, my shot of the UKD Orca operating off the Mersey shoreline lead to the shipbuilders getting into touch to buy a licence for the photo. The new buildings at Mann Island finally opened up enough to allow photos to be taken and my favourite spot for graffiti had some brilliant new additions.

Quite a varied year then all in all but as always, a lot of fun. I can’t believe how fast it flew past! I’ve got lots of big plans but 2012, now (as always) I just need to find time to implement some of them!

Happy New Year everyone!

Banksy 4 Robbo

2011-12-20T12:38:36Z

So Liverpool got another Banksy last week (my photo of the other Liverpool Banksy is here – it’s currently under scaffolding again) but before I had chance to get a shot of it, it has been…defaced? Added to? Bit of a debate to be had there.

I originally thought that was just somebody being an arse but a quick Google search revealed that Robbo probably refers to “King Robbo”, a rival graffiti artist that Banksy was having a “war of the walls” with before he had an accident and ended up in a coma. It’ll be interesting to see if there is any retaliation from the original artist.

If you fancy owning a bit of a Banksy and you’ve got a spare tenner or so (assuming it doesn’t go massively expensive in the next week) then check out this somewhat optimistic eBay auction – someone’s chancing their arm there!

Prints available here

Greenbank Graffiti

2011-12-07T09:51:47Z

Graffiti in Greenbank Park, Liverpool.

Wave!

2011-12-09T10:32:29Z

Or as an alternative title, ‘The Only Man In New Brighton Dafter Than Me’ but that’s hard to get in the title bar. This was taken during the high winds that battered the coast last week – this fella was a fisherman and so was at least kitted out with the right gear. About two minutes after this was taken I got woompfed! by a massive wave and totally soaked – turns out jeans aren’t the best attire for shooting waves. Good fun though.

Strike

2011-12-01T09:58:38Z

On Wednesday (depending on which report you read) over 2m public sector workers walked out on strike over proposed government changes to their pensions.

In Liverpool, 4,500 marched through the city from the Pier Head to a rally at St.George’s Plateau. I couldn’t attend the rally (my mate Terry did though – check out his awesome photos from the day here) but I did wander across the plateau later on and found some of the strikers placards, banners and leaflets.