Perspective Matters
The perspective of a viewer matters. Where you look from affects the view you have. Obviously, it’s why penthouses are so popular. To be able to look out on the world makes you feel like a king or queen in a castle.

The Delight of Manchester's Skyline
Cities look so magical from on high, especially at night, with the lights creating ever changing patterns. The Manchester Skyline you see is from a photo taken in 2011 when I stood at the top of the DoubleTree by Hilton near Piccadilly station. It’s a skyline of the city I grew up in, but it’s been changing rapidly recently. We’re looking towards Salford, and there’s been massive development of Deansgate, which dwarves these buildings now.

Snapshot in Time
All art captures a time, whether it’s styles of painting or ways of living and building. The foreground buildings are on the precipice of change. Many are empty. I must return to take another picture to see how much remains, but I digress. These were government buildings, vacated as part of the development and the inevitable change that governments bring.

Walking Among Giants
The skyline offers a view of the world that makes you feel like a giant. A vantage point, like this, allows you to see the bigger picture. It gives you a sense of a place. Distinctive features, characterise the city and make it truly Manchester. These aren’t anonymous blocks like the familiar shops and business branding which makes so many city streets anonymous and homogenised to such an extent that a person could be transported to a place and not immediately realise where they were without a few additional clues. At this height, the city’s unique identity emerges. The layout of buildings, the clock tower, the glazed atrium roof, distant office blocks and other indistinct properties may contain similar features to other places, but not like this. Familiar shapes may exist, but in unique compositions and layouts, quirky features that denote that this is a proud city with its own distinct identity.