I had a rather chilly dusk shoot to admire the blade sculpture in Queen Victoria Square back in February to start off a planned series of visits to the city during 2017, Hull’s UK City of Culture year.  The Blade had looked great, but there was a lot of work going along relaying paving in the city centre then and I was keen to get back and see how it looked now.

The Blade had disappeared, opening up the square and its new fountains to the summer crowds who were out in the warm weather enjoying a spot of lunch at the smart new seating area.  The old Maritime Museum building looked splendid in the sunshine – and the exhibits inside provided interesting and welcome shelter from the thunderstorm later on in the afternoon!

There had also been work going on relaying the square in front of Hull Minster (formerly Holy Trinity Church) in the Old Town on my earlier visit, so this was another port of call.  The square looks great now and I took some shots from under a leafy tree towards the minster, but couldn’t help photographing the old building reflected in a modern block on the other side of Market Place.

Back in the square, the marble statue of poet, satirist and politician Andrew Marvell caught my eye.  I must have photographed this subject before, but the white marble stood out nicely against the red brick of the Hands on History Museum (once the Hull Merchant Adventurer’s Hall) behind.

Whilst photographing the statue and museum, I also spotted the fine old former warehouse building nearby on the corner of Robinson Row with its “London and Manchester Warehousemen” sign.

Another new discovery (for me) in the Old Town was the delightful Prince Street – a quiet cobbled street with a crescent of colourful painted houses tucked away through an archway off Trinity Square.

I also explored a bit further away from the Old Town on this visit and headed up to Kingston Square and the New Theatre – currently undergoing refurbishment but looking good from the exterior as an interesting mix of old and new architecture.  Nearby I stumbled on the very modern Hull History Centre which wasn’t even marked on the new tourist map picked up from the City Hall!  It’s an archive and local studies library which houses collections from Hull City Council and the University of Hull.

From the History Centre I headed toward North Bridge over the River Hull, passing more interesting modern buildings including Hull College’s Centre for Digital and Green Energy before crossing the river and heading down to the bright yellow Drypool Bridge to cross back and head back into the Old Town via the Museums Quarter.

All in all a successful shoot with some more ideas for my next visit – the New Theatre should be finished by autumn so that may be on the list for a  future dusk visit!

You can see more images from the shoot in my East Riding gallery on the website.