Grant is a freelance photographer and writer based in Manchester. I have been aware of his work for some years, having used his photographs as inspiration for my students in a project on regeneration in Manchester. A major theme of his work is urban regeneration, and this began to interest me.
Photographing abandoned buildings is interesting but had started to become depressing; I didn't want to concentrate all my work on the derelict places in Manchester. My home city has so much potential that it was becoming difficult to represent it only through its failings. Grant's work made me realise that I could incorporate the work I had already done with a more positive outlook on the city.
Grant's project on Maine Road had previously caught my eye, as I lived behind the stadium as it was demolished; the images captured the change in the area in objective detail, capturing the 'factual' information I thought important;
I also love Grant's work After the Bomb as the IRA bomb of 2006 was such a defining moment, both in my own memory and in Manchester's past.
And finally, an image I just love...
