photography Archives - James Clay Stuff

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

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

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. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

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.

Here is the photograph from September 2023 that I took with an iPhone 13.

On a recent visit to Minehead I popped into the station at Minehead to replicate the same shot, this time with an iPhone 13.

This time, there was a carriage in the way…. The trains weren’t running and the station was being used to store the rolling stock.

March 1, 2025

Then and Now – Tredegar House Orangery and Stables

I was visiting Tredegar House, a National Trust property close to Newport. While I was there I took a range of photographs. Checking the date of my previous visit, I wasn’t too surprised to see some similar photographs.

I took this photograph in August 2016 of the Tredegar House Orangery and Stables with an iPhone 6s Plus.

This photograph was taken in March 2025 with a Canon EOS R100.

February 18, 2025February 18, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg

his 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 Finland for a conference in Espoo back in July 2006. I had some time before my flight home, so took a bus to visit the centre of Helsinki.

Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish priest, lyric and epic poet. He wrote exclusively in Swedish. He is considered a national poet of Finland.

I took this photograph in July 2006 with a Sony DSC-P200 digital camera.

I took a similar photograph in February 2025 with a Canon EOS R100.

I was back in Helsinki for a workshop, so took the time to retake the photo. Not too much has changed over the last nineteen years, though the fact one was taken in summer and the other in winter.

February 6, 2025

Then and Now – Chepstow Castle

I was looking at some old photographs from a couple of visits to Chepstow Castle. Not too surprising I found I had taken similar photographs of the castle.

This photograph was taken in August 2009 with a Canon EOS 400D.

I took a very similar photograph four years later, in August 2013, again with the same Canon EOS 400D.

Not quite the same angle, but close enough.

I also took this photograph of the castle grounds in August 2009 with a Canon EOS 400D.

I did a similar shot four years later.

Chepstow Castle is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Construction began in 1067, just after the Norman conquest by the Norman Lord William FitzOsbern.

February 4, 2025

Then and Now – Barrington Court

I recently visited Barrington Court and took this photograph of the house with a Canon EOS R100.

Going through my photographs from a visit in March 2017 I had taken a similar photograph with an iPhone 6S plus.

To be honest not too surprising, as if you were going to take a photograph of this side of the house you would take it from roughly the same location to get all the building into sh

January 31, 2025January 30, 2025

Then and Now – Elmdale, Chepstow

Elmdale is on the Gloucestershire side of the River Wye in Chepstow. I visited Chepstow Castle a few times ten or so years ago. It happened to appear in a memories album on Apple Photos and checking other photographs of two different visits to Chepstow I realised I had unintentionally taken the same photograph.

I took this photograph from the ramparts of Chepstow Castle over the River Wye in August 2009 using a Canon EOS 400D DSLR.

This photograph was taken four years later in August 2013 using the same Canon EOS 400D DSLR.

January 30, 2025January 28, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Again – Wells High Street

I took this photograph in Wells in August 2002.

It was taken with a Sony Cybershot. On a recent return visit to Wells in January 2025 I decided I would attempt to take this photograph again using my iPhone 13.

Not quite the same angle (and I did need to crop the image).

January 29, 2025January 28, 2025

Then and Now Take Two Once More – 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.

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.