Then and Now Take Two Again – Sand Bay Bunker

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 the beach at Sand Bay is an old second world war pillbox. It looks like it has sunk into the sand, I am not sure if it has just sunk, or of it had slipped down the beach over the years.

I have taken many photographs of the bunker. This was taken in September 2024 using an iPhone 13.

This is the bunker in October 2023, which I took with an iPhone 13 intentionally.

I realised checking my photo collection that I had also taken the same photo (probably intentionally) in April 2021 with an iPhone 8.

Here is the (same) view in June 2020 taken with an iPhone 8.

This was the view in April 2017 taken with an iPhone 6S Plus.

There appears to be an extra telegraph pole in the 2020 photo, that was installed in the intervening  three years.

I do think it interesting that there are quite a few pillboxes and beach defences at Sand Bay. You wouldn’t have thought that this coastline was under threat of German invasion back in the 1940s. It’s quite a way from the continent and you would need to go around both Devon and Cornwall (going past Plymouth, a major Royal Navy port), as well as South Wales before hitting the beaches at Weston and Sandy Bay. However doing some research about the pillboxes, I came to realise that the British in 1940 did believe that invasion may come from the South West. The Taunton Stop Line was a defensive line in south west England. It was designed “to stop an enemy’s advance from the west and in particular a rapid advance supported by tanks which may have broken through the forward defences.

Then and Now Take Two Again – Canon’s Marsh Gasworks

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 took this photograph of the Canon’s Marsh gasworks back in the mid 1990s whilst running a field trip down to the Bristol Harbourside. This was taken  with a Canon SLR on film and then scanned ten years later into a digital format.

On a recent walk on the other side of the river I took a photograph of the same scene with an iPhone 13.

The old gas works are now apartments and the gas tower was demolished and replaced with a new development.

Though not quite the same shot, this photograph from 2005 shows that ten years later the gas works building was still empty waiting to be developed.

Then and Now Take Two Again – Edinburgh Tram

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 the Airport Tram stop in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Tram started running in May 2014.

Though in the early 2000s I travelled to Edinburgh a fair bit, by the 2010s I had stopped travelling up there. In the 2000s I would catch the bus from the airport to the centre. On the 1st December 2014 I made a trip to Edinburgh for a conference, it my first opportunity to travel on the then new tram. I took a photograph from the Airport Tram stop down the line.

Of course you take a photograph and then think nothing of it.

Five years later I am heading off to Edinburgh once more,  I hadn’t been to Edinburgh in the intervening period, though I had been to Glasgow a fair few times. Arriving at Edinburgh Airport and heading towards Haymarket the obvious thing was to take the Tram. Waiting at the stop I decided to take a photograph….

Not quite the same photograph, but pretty close.

I was back in Edinburgh in November 2019 as well, but didn’t take a photograph of the Tram stop.

I was back in Edinburgh in November 2022 and I intentionally took this photographs from the same perspective on the 16th November 2022.

It’s actually more central than the other two and it was taken directly into the sun!

On a visit to Edinburgh in March 2024, though I had caught the train to Edinburgh (from London), I travelled back to Bristol by air. This photograph was taken with an iPhone 13.

Then and Now Take Two – Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park

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 was back at Loughborough University for a conference. I have visited the university a few times before. I took this photograph of a view of the Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park from the first floor of the Holywell Park Conference Centre in September 2007. It was taken with a Nokia N73.

When I looked at the image a few years ago, I couldn’t recall where I had taken it, I knew I had taken it at a MoLeNET planning meeting, but I really couldn’t remember where we had met. MoLeNET was the Mobile Learning Network, which was created by the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) in 2007 to facilitate and deliver a range of mobile learning projects for further education. As well as running projects, I was also a MoLeNET Mentor and helped to mentor other projects in the initiative. We had a fair number of planning meetings, which took place across the UK, sometimes in London, Leeds and this place. Having worked out that this September 2007 meeting was probably in Loughborough, I did a Google Street View search. It wasn’t Burleigh Court (where I had been as recently as October 2016) and I think that’s why I initially I didn’t think it was Loughborough.

So in March 2024 I was back at Holywell Park Conference Centre I realised I could take a similar photograph, so I did with an iPhone 13.

Then and Now Take Two – Grassmarket

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.

Though I have visited Edinburgh lots of times, it has always been for work. My first holiday to Edinburgh was in 2021. Then we had a lot more time to explore the city and I took this photograph of Grassmarket. It was taken on a lovely sunny day in August 2021 using an iPhone 8.

So when I was back in a damp Edinburgh in March 2024, and was walking pass the same area, I took the same photograph using an iPhone 13.

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.

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

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.

 

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.

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.