Open day

So I was just bumbling around the internet looking for the opening hours of Manchester Craft & Design Centre and perusing the info on Debbie Smyth's awesome-looking Threadbare exhibition there as I'm aiming to fit it into the jam-packed W&F calendar, when, lo! I saw mention of this new Curated Place blog, which in itself is a work of interest and perhaps even beauty.

Tootling on through the recent posts, I saw that Andy Brydon, who is behind the CP curtain working the levers and pulleys, includes snaps of the Open City Manchester show I graced the launch of last night with my presence. (Blimey, these sentences are complicated in their structure, aren't they, readers? I must apologise: I have both a hangover and a disgustingly tight deadline to meet with the said hangover, and it's driven me to distraction somewhat.)


Anyway, the show is worth nipping to see, with all the pictures taken by amateur photographers who participated in the first Open City photography day on 23 May 2010, led by five professional Manchester-baed snappers Aidan O’Rourke, Andrew Brooks, Len Grant, Paul Herrmann and Mark Page. While some of the shots are a little on the cliched side and others felt somewhat staged, there are a number of surprising compositions and some interesting techniques. The number here is by Sue Langford, who I consequently bumped into at The Hillary Step as myself and Mr W&F gradually made the long way home from town with a flat bicycle tyre. (We had already stopped at The Whalley, which was full of scarily medicated patrons all sat at separate tables. It was like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest meets Night Of The Living Dead. Suffice to say, we didn't stay for a second drink.) I hope Sue doesn't mind me featuring her work - we were chatting about it last night (I like the font; she told me it's on a lock gate just up from Dukes 92), but I will make sure I ask her for permission post haste.

Cityco's Open City Manchester is downstairs in the Triangle shopping centre and runs from today to 29 July, and is open daily 10am–6pm. You can also peruse the photos in the show on this here Flickr site. There are two further upcoming Open City photography days on Saturday 17 July and on Sunday 22 August, both from 2–4pm. It's £10 to take part - book by emailing Mark Page via info@manchesterphotography.com.

Picture credit: Sue Langford, all rights reserved