A Bury-born photographer is turning his focus on a project to capture the region’s most iconic monuments - giving them a unique spin.
Mark Robinson, 33, set out to research and immortalise the North West’s follies, ornamental buildings or monuments constructed for purely decorative purposes.
A third year-photography student at Blackburn College University Centre, Mark employed the use of his photographic drone to capture unique perspectives of the historic moments, creating what he calls ‘tiny planets’ with the folly standing at an unseen perspective ‘on top of the world.’
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As part of the project, Mark has focused on views of Hartshead Pike, in Tameside, Jubilee Tower in Darwen and Rivington Pike in Chorley as well as the Peel Monument on Holcombe Moor.
Speaking about his work, he said: “I wanted to combine my photographic knowledge with my drone skills to capture a unique perspective of historical Folly’s around the Northwest, creating what looks like tiny planets.”
“The project has been a fascinating journey of discovery relating to these iconic local landmarks. For example, Hartshead Pike was built in the 1860’s and commemorated the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark”.
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Mark, who lives in Rochdale with his wife Helen and their 11-month-old baby Coby says he found his passion for photography after he got married in 2018.
He began his career working alongside a wedding photographer as a second shooter and decided to embark on a degree in Photography & Moving Image BA (Hons) Degree in 2020.
Mark chose to focus on the follies for his project in order to photograph something he’d never thought to capture before.
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He said: “I thought I’d put a unique spin on it, using modern drone technology and the cameras in the drone to get a unique perspective that the general public can’t see.
He says the technique can be challenging but yields a distinctive result.
“ When I take the drone up I’m going at loads of different angles, you’ve got to be careful that you don’t go to low or too high.
“It takes about 60 seconds and it takes multiple shots that create a 360° image and in post-editing, that 360° image gets created into a sphere.”
As well as photographing the monuments, Mark says he has spent time researching the history and context of each one.
After finishing his degree, Mark hopes to go professional, with a focus on editorial, press and commercial images, but says he’ll keep up his other projects, like the follies, as well.
“I’ll still be working on the side as well, just to keep the momentum going.”
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