Category: photography

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Then and Now – Bristol Temple Meads

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.

Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It was designed by the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1840. It’s a major transport hub for the city, connecting Bristol to other parts of the UK and beyond.

This photograph was taken in January 2018 with an iPhone 6s Plus.

I took a similar photograph in January 2020 with an iPhone 8.

I took an almost similar photograph in January 2024, but not quite, with an iPhone 13.

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Then and Now Take Two – Grosvenor Hotel

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 recently posted some then and now photographs of The Grosvenor Hotel in Redcliffe Bristol.

The Grosvenor Hotel in Redcliffe Bristol, which has been an eyesore for ages was demolished this week. I was looking through my photographs of the hotel and realised, I had taken some similar photographs of the ruined hotel.

I was back in Bristol in February 2024 and took a photograph of the partially demolished hotel from the same perspective as the other photographs I had taken of the hotel over the last few years.

This photograph was taken in August 2023.

This was a similar shot taken in February 2022.

Grosvenor Hotel

This photograph was taken in June 2021.

It was a pity it was left for so long, it was a really nice looking building.

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Then and Now – Grosvenor Hotel

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.

The Grosvenor Hotel in Redcliffe Bristol, which has been an eyesore for ages was demolished this week. I was looking through my photographs of the hotel and realised, I had taken some similar photographs of the ruined hotel.

This photograph was taken in June 2021.

This was a similar shot taken in February 2022.

Grosvenor Hotel

This photograph was taken in August 2023.

It was a pity it was left for so long, it was a really nice looking building.

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Then and Now Take Two – 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.

On a recent 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.

Kings College Chapel

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Then and Now Take Two – Odeon Cinema

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 photo of the Odeon was taken in November 2014 with an Apple iPhone 5s.

The Odeon closed in June 2023 and was taken over by independent chain, Plaza in August 2023. They spent some time refurbishing the cinema before re-opening.

This photo was taken in January. 2023 with an iPhone 13.

Went to see Wonka at the weekend at the new Plaza. It’s lovely musical fantasy film. A great prequel to the classic 1971 film. Great cast and excellent writing. Though it is not set anywhere specifically I noticed bits of Oxford in the background.

However, there was no heating in the cinema. As a result we had to keep our coats on. This did impact on our enjoyment of the film. I doubt I would go again, as it was rather chilly.

 

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Then and Now Take Two – Crag Path

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.

In the 1970s and 1980s I would visit Aldeburgh a lot, as we had family there. Having moved to the South West, I have rarely visited there in the last twenty five years.

We had a family holiday in November 2008, it was windy, cold and damp.

I did take a few photographs, using my DSLR Canon EOS400D including this picture of the North Lookout on the beach. From also the same perspective I took a photograph of the houses on Crag Path.

On a recent return visit to Aldeburgh in January 2024 I took a similar photograph using an iPhone 13.

The houses have remained the same, but some have been repainted, balconies added, windows replaced. The parked cars look very different as well.

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Then and Now Take Two – North Lookout

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.

In the 1970s and 1980s I would visit Aldeburgh a lot, as we had family there. Having moved to the South West, I have rarely visited there in the last twenty five years.

We had a family holiday in November 2008, it was windy, cold and damp.

I did take a few photographs, using my DSLR Canon EOS400D including this picture of the North Lookout on the beach.

It was the location of the original lifeboat station.

On a recent return visit to Aldeburgh in January 2024 I took a similar photograph using an iPhone 13.

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Then and Now – Never Let Me Go

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.

This is a slight different version of the posts I do, as these are then and now photographs of a location used in the film Never Let Me Go which was released in 2010.

The lives of three friends, from their early school days into young adulthood, when the reality of the world they live in comes knocking.

The film was set in an alternate 1980s UK. 

Various scenes were filmed in Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare.

Once scene was set in the Regent Cafe on 13 Regent St, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1AP.

What I always find amusing was that though the film was set in the 1980s they didn’t need to dress the cafe to fit in. Even the interior cafe shots in the film were taken in the cafe, and that was how it was back when it was filmed in 2009.

The cafe closed after the covid pandemic, and has been replaced by Burger Barn.

I took photographs of the Burger Barn, the cafe when it was closed in 2023 and the original Regent Cafe in March 2013. All images cropped to match film scene.

Burger Barn photograph January 2024.

Regent Cafe closure February 2023.

Regent Cafe March 2013.

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Then and Now – Cheddar Yeo Sword

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 having a short walk in Cheddar after the recent 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 did wonder what it was like before, so I checked my older photographs of Cheddar 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 – 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.

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 College, so would walk down Trinity Lane.

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

Trinity Lane

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.