Photographer Johnny captures York in 'quiet and unique' times

Johnny Grenda, who has been taking photos in and around York for many years, has photographed popular spots around the city when nobody else is around.

Johnny, who describes York as a "beautiful place," aimed to take the pictures at less popular times or days or during difficult weather conditions.

Johnny, who lives in Huntington, said: "People photograph York daily - and even on the weakest of camera phones it's difficult not to make the famous sights of this city look impressive.

"If I timed my pictures well enough, I thought I could catch the colours of the autumn sunsets."

Grape Lane captured by Johnny Grenda (Image: Johnny Grenda)

In three of his recent photos, Johnny said he was lucky enough to be able to capture the reflections of certain things in puddles - such as Clifford's Tower, The Shambles and the Cheese Trader based on Grape Lane's cobbled Streets. 

Johnny added: "These kinds of reflection photos are nothing new, but in a city as majestic as York they can really come together in spectacular fashion.

"The Clifford's Tower featured in the image is also the pre-refurbished version, which I think gives it extra charm too - a moment of the past. This is what gives the image of the tourist signpost at the Minster its charm too.

"When I took this image I had no idea they were planning to remove it mere months later, leaving me with a shot of the Minster I could never replicate again."

The sign at York Minster which is no longer in place. Picture: Johnny Grenda (Image: Johnny Grenda)

The shot of Castle Howard was taken by Johnny late in the day from behind the wall at the bottom of the grounds.

He said: "As I looked to include the wall in the foreground I noticed one of the pillars was missing, so I tried to line up the castle in the best way I could to create an interesting composition.

"My main aim was trying to mount the distant statue of Apollo Belvedere onto the broken pillar in the foreground, whilst trying to keep the peak of the dome in view between two of the pillars."

During the last month, Johnny said he has finally got around to building a website to start offering out his services.

All these images currently feature in his online gallery over at thatyorkshirephotographer.com

Castle Howard captured in the evening by Johnny Grenda (Image: Johnny Grenda)

During the first Covid-19 lockdown, Johnny, used his time to create pictures to keep people entertained online.

He pictured the empty streets of York - before using his graphic design skills to edit them to bring them to life with different characters and creatures from popular culture and mythical stories.

He then turned them into ‘memes’ which are used to spread images and ideas of a typically humorous nature.