Category: photography

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Then and Now Take Two – Black Sabbath Bridge

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 from the bridge over the canal to the ICC quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

This photograph was taken in October 2025 with an iPhone 13.

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

The Black Sabbath Bridge is a tribute attraction to celebrate the Birmingham metal band, Black Sabbath.

Yesterday I posted some photographs I took from the same bridge but looking the other way.

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Then and Now Take Two Again – Birmingham

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.

Next door to the ICC in Birmingham is a canal and there is a bridge across there from Brindley Place, and it would appear quite often when crossing the bridge I would take a photograph down the canal looking towards the what was the NIA (National Indoor Arena) and is now known as the Utilita Arena Birmingham.

I have over the years taken a photograph from the bridge.  This photograph was taken in October 2025 with an iPhone 13.

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

It’s quite surprising how little has changed over the fourteen years between the photographs.

It would also not surprise you that I have a similar set of photographs looking the other way…

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Then and Now Take Two – Kaldi Cafe

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2023 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. Back then I had some time to explore the city and had a delightful coffee at Kaldi. In September 2025 I made a return visit to the Netherlands for a conference in Delft. Having a few hours before my flight home from Schiphol I went into the heart of Amsterdam for a walk and an explore. When, I was there I took the time to find Kaldi again and have a second coffee. I also took the time to take a similar photograph to the one I took two years ago.

This photograph was taken in September 2025 with an iPhone 13.

This photograph was taken in October 2023, with the same phone.

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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.

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Then and Now Take Two – Ashton Court

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.

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.

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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.

Newark Park

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

Newark Park

More photographs from Newark Park.

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Then and Now Take Two – Cheddar Yeo Sword

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.

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.

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Then and Now Take Two, still with scaffolding – 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 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.

Bristol Airport

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

View of an airport

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.

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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.

Grand Hotel in Brighton

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

Grand Hotel in Brighton

I didn’t quite catch the same perspective.

 

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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.