Andy McDonald Black and White Photos

  This is a project that has taken around a year to complete, over a number of short breaks in Glasgow to visit our daughter. The picture above shows a scaled mock-up of how this collection will look as a set of mounted prints, which I plan to create over the coming weeks. The project started with the picture of Bells Bridge in the centre of the bottom row, which is also one of the first pictures I took with the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift lens, before gradually extending to cover the area from Govan in the West to Tradeston in the East. I find urban regeneration to be a fascinating subject, but especially as shown in this area of Glasgow (with all five bridges included here being constructed since 1988). As part of this project, I chose to include wider views of the urban landscape in addition to the more usual architectural studies that I have favoured in the past.  You can view the complete collection of 21 images in the dedicated "Clyde Renaissance" gallery at my website .

  The Photograph I am working on a series of photographs featuring buildings and scenes around the River Clyde in Glasgow, particularly in the area marked by Govan in the West and Tradeston (and the corresponding areas on the northern bank of the Clyde). This has been facilitated by repeat visits to the city to visit our daughter who is studying there. I already have a good collection featuring many of the iconic (and not so iconic) buildings along there so now want to concentrate on more vista style images to show more context. Normally I work with a Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift lens but I knew I would need something more versatile for this phase. I already owned the Sony 24-70 f/4 lens, but decided to swap this out for the slightly newer Sony 24-105 f/4 instead, mainly so I can get closer compositions of buildings as I expected to be shooting across the river. For our latest trip, I had some time on the Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday morning to try to capture some images and I onl...

  The Building Opened in 1993 as the General Accident Life Headquarters and designed by Hurd Rolland Partnership, this building is situated adjacent Lendal Bridge on the banks over the river Ouse, opposite the 13th century Guild Hall. This site, containing archaeological remains, was previously occupied by industrial buildings and subject to a wide range of complex planning constraints. General Accident Life Developments Ltd. in consultation with the Royal Fine Arts Commission and Local Planning Authority invited three prominent architects to prepare designs for their new headquarters building. The winning design by Hurd Rolland Partnership is a composition in fine grained magnesium limestone, taking for its inspiration the rich limestone detailing of the mediaeval city. Rising from the riverside with tumbling pitched roofs in green slate and roof terraces overlooking the city , it provides accommodation for some 800 staff and includes two full-height atria. As the River Ouse is pr...

  The Building Liked by many. Hated by many. The Q-Park, Charles Street, opened in 2008, and the extraordinary steel cladding merited the ‘Cheesegrater’ name. The external envelope, painted green on the inside, was each manufactured from a single sheet of folded aluminium, cut to an angle on two sides, and hung in four different orientations, providing natural ventilation. By day, a varied monochromatic pattern of light and dark is achieved over each of the elevations, with each panel giving a different light reflectance from its surface.  Awards: RIBA National Award 2009, RIBA Regional Award 2009, RIBA White Rose Award 2009, Sheffield Design Awards Citizen's Award for Best Building 2009 The ten-storey car park was designed by architects Allies and Morrison, and constructed by Sheffield-based J.F. Finnegan  as part of the Heart of the City project, which also included the Peace Gardens, Winter Garden and Millennium Gallery. The Photograph I've had a few attempts at this b...

  The Building Opened in 1967, the Grade I listed cathedral was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd. The Metropolitan Cathedral's exterior is a distinctive architectural marvel. Constructed of concrete and clad in Portland stone, the cathedral's circular plan culminates in a conical tower. This unique form is supported by 16 boomerang-shaped concrete trusses held together by two ring beams. Attached flying buttresses impart the cathedral with its iconic tent-like appearance. Rising from the upper ring beam, a lantern tower filled with stained glass windows dominates, crowned with a series of pinnacles. The Photograph I last visited Liverpool in 2023, for a University Open Day with our eldest. That trip lasted two days but was in the nascent days of my journey into fine art black and white photography.  This latest visit was just for a few hours as I doubled as a taxi for my youngest and three friends to go to a concert at Anfield. However, even though I had just a few hours, I a...

  The Building Opened in 2021, this state of the art building is home to the dynamic science, technology, health, engineering and medicine courses at Canterbury Christ Church University.  Designed by Hamilton Architects, this building is part of the £150m city campus development at Canterbury. The building has a complex façade characterised by vertical brick piers, establishing a strong connection between the building and its rich historic surroundings. The Photograph My passion for black and white fine art architecture photography started with a tour of university open days with my eldest daughter a couple of years ago. We are now touring universities with my other daughter as she looks at prospective courses. Canterbury Christ Church University was first on the list.  The picturesque campus itself is quite compact and mainly made up of buildings from (I think) the 1960s and 1970s. This is probably one of the newest buildings on campus and is mainly brick and glass, with...