Quiet Light

Photographs by Gunner Gu

Pre-publication price of £35.00 (after which it will be £40.00). Pre-orders will be shipped around the end of June 2025)

'An idea was sown in my head in 2015—that I should photograph the city without its inhabitants. What would that look and feel like, I wondered?' Gunner Gu

"Gu reveals Manchester in the stillness of dawn, streets deserted, stripped of its inhabitants and steeped in bleached light. His Manchester is never gloomy nor foreboding. He is not interested in glowering concrete nor picturesque shabbiness. He doesn’t fight the colourless skies, endless cranes and garish hoardings, but neither does he dwell on them. Buildings, not mood, are his centrepieces."

Helen Barrett

Since 2022, Gunner Gu has been capturing the essence of Manchester’s twentieth-century architecture in the serene stillness of early morning—just after dawn, before the city stirs to life.

This volume brings together his striking photographs, showing landmarks such as the Toast Rack and the Renold Building, alongside lesser-known buildings like the Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange. Bathed in the soft, milky glow of morning light, these images offer a rare glimpse of the city in its quietest, most dreamlike state.

Photographs by Gunner Gu 
Foreword by Helen Barrett
Design by Thomas Steeles
Hardcover, 168 pages,
Colour
250x200mm

ISBN 978-1-7394927-9-3

*NB images shown here are digital impressions, the actual books may be slightly different.

To coincide with the launch of the book, the modernist will host an exhibition of Gu's photographs at its gallery on Port Street in Manchester, from 16.05.25-28.06.25.