Then and Now Take Two – Where’s Santa?

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 have taken this view at Cabot Circus a fair few times, one big difference this year is that there is no Santa. This photo was taken in November 2023.

This photograph was taken last year on the 26th November 2022.

I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, back on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus.

I also wrote about it back then as well and in that post I used an image I found  searching Flickr from December 2012. It would seem I am not alone in taking photographs from that vantage point outside House of Fraser.

Cabots Circus by David X Mitchell via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I have written a few times about how I have taken photographs of this view of Cabot Circus.

Then and Now Take Three – Cabot Circus

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus

Then and Now, but not alone – Cabot Circus

Then and Now – Cabot Circus

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

Then and Now Take Three – Cabot Circus

This view of Cabot Circus was taken in April 2023.

Cabot Circus

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 have written a few times about how I have taken photographs of this view of Cabot Circus.

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus

Then and Now, but not alone – Cabot Circus

Then and Now – Cabot Circus

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

Going through some photographs recently I started to realise I had taken photographs of this view a lot more times than I thought I had.

This post outlines all the times I have taken this view (that I have found).

This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

I took this photograph on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. I also wrote about it back then as well.

This newly found photograph shows the same view and was taken 19th November 2021.

Another newly found photograph of the same view, this from 9th July 2022.

Cabot Circus

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022.

This is a newly found photograph from the 10th December 2022.

So back to the top photograph, which was the most recent in April 2023.

Cabot Circus

Time to visit Cabot Circus again I think and take another photograph.

Update

So I did… This photo was taken in June 2023.

Cabot Circus

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus

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.

Back at Cabot Circus this week (April 2023) I took this photograph.

Cabot Circus

I have taken photographs of this view before. This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

I took this photograph on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. I also wrote about it back then as well.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022.

It would appear others also like this view.

Then and Now, but not alone – Cabot Circus

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 November I posted one in this series about Cabot Circus at Christmas time having taken a photograph in December 2019 and then intentionally took a similar photograph in November 2022. What I hadn’t remembered was that I had taken identical or similar photographs before. Going through my collection and some old Flickr albums I found two more photographs which I blogged about earlier.

What I did note, looking for the date of construction that, this view was popular with other photographers and the construction company as well.

This was the artist impression of the shopping centre, and as you can see that this is the same view as the photographs I took.

Here is the view of the construction of the centre.

Final preparations being undertaken prior to opening.

This is the opening day of the Cabot Circus centre.

So what about my photographs.

This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

Three years later on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. Not realising I had taken similar photos before.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022. I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, so took this one.

So I had unintentionally taken three photographs of roughly the same place over an eleven year period.

Then and Now – Cabot Circus

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 November I posted one in this series about Cabot Circus at Christmas time having taken a photograph in December 2019 and then intentionally took a similar photograph in November 2022.

What I hadn’t remembered was that I had taken identical or similar photographs before. Going through my collection and some old Flickr albums I found two more photographs.

This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

I took some more photographs and at the time I was then approached by security who told me that this was against their rules. I thought this was bizarre. Was I taking photographs of the shops?

No!

Was I using my big Canon 400D with 75-300mm lens?

No!

Was I using my nice 50mm lens which I keep meaning to use more?

No!

Was I using my point and shoot Sony W35?

No!

What was I using?

I was using a Nokia N95 phone!

I was surprised to be asked to stop. Weird policy. Of course once more people had more phones they stopped enforcing the policy.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

Three years later on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. Not realising I had taken similar photos before.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022. I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, so took this one.

So I had unintentionally taken three photographs of roughly the same place over an eleven year period.

Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

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 photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022.

I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, back on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus.

I also wrote about it back then as well and in that post I used an image I found  searching Flickr from December 2012. It would seem I am not alone in taking photographs from that vantage point outside House of Fraser.

Cabots Circus by David X Mitchell via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Back then I wrote about the changes between the two images.

Its interesting to see the differences. Cafe Rouge has gone and has been replaced by Five Guys. I noticed recently that Giraffe had closed and the unit was now a Slim Chickens. On the ground floor was was SoHo (which has moved around the corner) is now a Tortilla and a Typo. In 2012 Patisserie Valerie was still open, today it’s closed and boarded up.

Since 2019, Krispy Kreme have taken over the Patisserie Valerie location.

Then and Now Take Two – Philadelphia Street

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.

Philadelphia Street was part of the Cabot Circus and Quaker’s Friar development.

This photo of the construction of the development was taken in July 2008.

This is Philadelphia Street in July 2022.

This overhead view I took in July 2005 shows the old car park.