photography Archives - James Clay Stuff

September 27, 2025

Then and Now Take Two – Bristol Airport

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view o ar perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

This was taken in September 2025 using an iPhone 13.

Here are the photographs from over the years taken of the same view.

August 28, 2025August 27, 2025

Then and Now Take Two – Ashton Court

On a recent visit to Ashton Court in August 2025, I took this photo using an iPhone 13.

This photograph was taken in the 1990s using a Canon EOS 500 film camera, the print was scanned in using an Epson scanner. Though not quite the same perspective and location, it’s pretty close. Back then cars were allowed quite a way into the park to park (there were no meters back then either). You can also tell the age of this photograph from the age of the cars in the shot.

I have taken this shot (or a very similar shot) quite a few times over the years, as you can see here (and in this post).

This view was taken in October 2014 using a Canon EOS 400D.

I was there in June 2017 as well and took this very similar shot using an Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

This was on a visit to Ashton Court in September 2020 with an Apple iPhone 8.

Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol.

August 22, 2025

Then and Now – Newark Park

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester.

I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart.

I was visiting Newark Park, a National Trust property in Gloucestershire in August 2025. While I was there I took a range of photographs. Checking the date of my previous visit in May 2018, I wasn’t too surprised to see a similar photograph.

This photograph was taken in May 2018 using a Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

This photograph was taken in August 2025 using a Apple iPhone 13.

More photographs from Newark Park.

August 19, 2025August 18, 2025

Then and Now Take Two – Cheddar Yeo Sword

I took this photograph of the Cheddar Yeo Sword in August 2025 using an iPhone 13. Having taken the same photo before in 2024 and 2021.

Back in January 2024, I was having a short walk in Cheddar after the storms and the Cheddar Yeo stream was a real torrent of water. I took a photograph of the Cheddar Yeo Sword being bombarded by the water.

I checked my older photographs of Cheddar after taking that photograph and there was this very similar photograph I had taken in Cheddar in May 2021 from almost the same perspective.

June 17, 2025

Then and Now Take Two, still with scaffolding – Bristol Airport

Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

I was flying to Belfast in June 2025, so I took my usual photograph, with an iPhone 13, the building work was continuing.

I was flying to Dublin in October 2024, so I took my usual photograph.

Not quite the same view as there was scaffolding in the way and it was raining.

I was flying to Glasgow in November 2023, so I took my usual photograph.

I was flying to Amsterdam in October 2023 so I took a photograph from the window next to the balcony at the departures lounge. The balcony itself was closed, it was rather foggy.

When travelling from Bristol Airport in August 2023 I took this photograph from the balcony at the departures lounge.

When I was at Bristol Airport on the 14th November 2022, I intentionally took a photograph from the same vantage point.

I had taken a similar picture in February 2017.

I took this view of Bristol Airport from the departures lounge on an early morning in August 2016.

June 12, 2025June 17, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Grand Hotel, Brighton

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulgone), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve.

I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel.

This photograph from July 2004 was taken with a Sony Cybershot digital camera.

So, over twenty years later, I took a new photograph with an iPhone 13 in June 2025.

I didn’t quite catch the same perspective.

June 3, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Killerton Chapel

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

I visited Killerton back in June 2023 and recently made a return visit in May 2025.

In the grounds is a chapel, when I visited in 2023 it was covered in scaffolding. I took this photograph with an iPhone 13.

So when I made my return visit in May 2025 I took a photograph of the chapel without the scaffolding. This was taken with a Canon EOS R100.

April 12, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Trinity Lane, Cambridge

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

This is the view of Trinity Lane in Cambridge, taken with an iPhone 13 in March 2025.

This is the view of Trinity Lane in Cambridge, taken with an iPhone 13 in December 2023.

I have now taken this shot a fair few times.

I grew up in Cambridge, but moved away when I went to university in York. I remember rarely visiting the University of Cambridge as a youngster, why would I? However I did do some specialist maths classes at Trinity Hall College, so would walk down Trinity Lane.

This is a photograph of Trinity Lane taken in April 2023 with an iPhone 13.

This photograph was taken in July 2022 with an iPhone 13.

This was taken in the middle of the day in bright sunshine.

I stayed over in Cambridge back in January 2020 I took this photograph of Trinity Lane.

I took this with an iPhone 8 in late afternoon I did edit and enhance the image with Snapseed, but the iPhone was able to deal with the low light conditions so much better.

It was back in March 2009 when I was at a JISC RSC Eastern event in Cambridge I did take the time the day before to walk around the town and took this photograph of Trinity Lane.

It was taken in the early evening with a Sony DSC-W53 camera, which to be honest struggled with the low light conditions.

March 30, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Kings College Chapel

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

As I had noted I had taken this view of Kings College Chapel quite a few times, so on a recent visit to Cambridge in March 2025, I took a photograph, using an iPhone 13, of the chapel. Well I tried, as there was an event next to it and there was some fencing in the way.

I then raised my phone over the fencing and tried to take a photograph, which wasn’t quite the same, but shows what was happening.

On a visit to Cambridge in December 2023 I took an intentional photograph of Kings College Chapel as I had taken two other similar photographs of the chapel unintentionally.

I had also taken an intentional similar shot when I was in Cambridge in April 2023. Then it had more scaffolding, and the tree in front had some spring leaves on it.

On a visit to Cambridge, I had taken this photograph of Kings College Chapel in July 2022.

I had been looking at posts on this blog with the cambridge tag when I noticed that back in January 2020 (pre-pandemic) I had taken a virtually identical photograph of Kings College Chapel.

March 20, 2025

Then and Now Take Two – Minehead Engine Shed

I took this photograph at Minehead Station on the West Somerset Railway on the 4th September 2004 using a Sony Cybershot digital camera.

It is one of my all time favourite photographs of a steam engine. I even printed it out once at A2 size.

Visiting the West Somerset Railway nearly twenty years later in September 2023 I decided I would try and take the same shot again. However looking through my photographs on Twitter (no GPS EXIF data on these older photographs) I found I had taken a very similar photograph on May 27th 2013 using a Canon EOS 400D.