Our Forests The Pylons of High Tension Wires

Street level: Slightly more interesting...

After my trip around Bristol, and taking photos of random, yet eye catching graffiti, I have started paying way more attention to little things you tend to see about cities. In Shanghai it's usually the bicycles that always stick out in my mind, particularly as there isn't a whole lot of street art. Not that there isn't, it's usually just a little harder to see so much. But it's not only that; I think it is also the way you see certain things, juxtaposed to others. There is a sign on a wall I used to walk past fairly regularly in Oxford saying: 

Bill Stickers 

Will Be 

Prosecuted 

and underneath someone has scrawled 'Bill Stickers is innocent'. It's just one of those things that makes you smile. Unfortunately I never got round to getting a photo of it, but you can see it here. 

I like things like this. It was written on to the window of a bar/club thing that I walked past. And since I love cities, I'm a bit of a sucker for things like this.

I'm annoyed that this is slightly out of focus, but never mind. I think they are cooking oil and paint canisters, but I honestly have no idea.

Rock on.

With all the buildings, and rather confined space, you get these pretty cool looking short alleys. The fisheye helps I guess.

Same goes for this one really, although, I like this one a little more because of the way the scene is busy just in one corner, but you still get the light coming down across the wall.

I just like the colours here. And the lines look like they might not be parallel.

I always notice these, and I guess that's the point. It's hardly advertising, or maybe it is, and I must confess I always like to read them. This lamp post is at the bottom of a steep set of stairs so you end up fairly close to it, and at eye level.

No Bills, but drawing on the walls is ok obviously.

Cheerio.

Better Late Than Never

Right. So finally I am going to get to putting up some photos. Possibly two months later than when I originally planned to. But hey... screw you.

Carnival is the theme for today...

Other than colour, there is a lot of food. Poor guy was probably there all day. And this was taken at 11 in the morning.

This woman is cool. That is all.

You may have cottoned on to the fact that I like taking photos of groups of policemen.

This guy was cooking and looked like he was taking a break. I'm not sure if I should've cropped the no entry sign out of it, and just had the graffiti.

It could almost be fog. The sheer number of BBQs leads to this kind of thing.

I like how the police are just completely ignoring her, like it's completely normal.

"What's up?", "Just chillin'".

So many many people. I like the slightly washed look of this.

I just like this photo.

It kind of shows how people are just doing their thing and having a good time.

Something I have touched on before

These are a couple of random images that I have picked up on my various travels. They don't really fit in any particular subject. I suppose after my recent photos of bits of graffiti, they would sort of fit in that, but these are a little more special. And they weren't taken in Bristol either; it didn't feel right to put them in with the others.

This was actually taken at Notting Hill Carnival. But this guy was just off a side street pretty much playing to no one. I quite like how he sat down in front of a boarded up window that was scrawled over. I appreciated the fact that he was in his own little world I guess.

This is a wall. A dirty wall. With a electrical box of some kind. I just like the colours. I'm a little simple like that. It's also straight, which is quite rare for me.

Before I forget

I meant to put this in one of the previous posts. I figure you can't take pictures of graffiti in Bristol without at least one Banksy piece.
It's not my favourite of his that I have seen, but it does make me laugh.

It says all it needs to on it's own.

Urban regeneration; what?

So, Bristol: Part two. Most of these need little explanation. Just photos of things I thought were interesting.

So this an owl. I think. I found it interesting because it's not graffiti in the conventional sense. Well it sort of is, but not entirely. It's a friendly looking owl though.

Here's another underpass shot. This tag has little relevance to anything, unlike the previous one. But it looks kind of neat.

So this a pub called The Golden Lion. The art work on the outside is so impressive. It covers the whole side wall of this pub. The shot below gives you a better idea, but this part is the most impressive bit.

How cool is that?

The above an below shots are of the same building. It gives the skyline a bit of an interesting touch...

You can see what I mean from this angle. The two eyes on the face are always following you...

...so is the state.

There is something about the above and below shots that I really like. I actually only saw it by chance; it's across from the platform at the train station.

I'm not sure which I like better. The first one is cool as you can immediately see the face. But the one right above, it takes a moment to notice the face, as it's just in the bottom corner (if you didn't notice). But it stands out well enough, particularly since it's a derelict building.

Image: Derelict building.

Strange image. No explanation available.

Uhm. I'm not sure whether this should be filed under urban decay or regeneration. I have never seen one of these before. It's quite a clever little idea. Certainly makes more sense taking a proactive approach to 'societal ills', than ignoring them. Pseudo-social theorist rant over.

A touch of urban decay

I went to Bristol the other day. I'd never been before. A friend of mine took me up Gloucester Road, and said there were some good places to take photos of. In a departure from taking pictures of buildings, plants and terrible pictures of people, it was nice to do something a little different. Also trying to figure out the best way to take a picture of a flat surface and make it interesting was a little new for me. Also just spotting small things that could turn out well was a new challenge. So I begin with my favourite of the day:

Probably because I agree with the sentiment, but also its a pretty damn cool stencil.

My friend saw this in the first underpass we went under. While it looks like a pretty random tag, and I must confess I thought it was when I saw it, I like the little message.

Graffiti gets a bad rap. Some of it justified, some, not so much. The building this was on was abandoned, and it's pretty simple and plain. But it stands out well. What always gets me is the testicular fortitude to actually get up to places and start painting. For all the (supposed) ills of graffiti, you have to admire the audacity.

I have no real explanation for the above image. I just kind of like it. It's a guy in a gas mask riding a giant mosquito (that is also wearing a gas mask). Ho hum.

This has been edited slightly. It wasn't straight so I turned the image a little, and cropped it. I was going to put it up as it was, but it really bothered me. I still can't take straight photos. Anyway.

Yeah, so you can kind of tell I went a bit wild with the fish-eye.

More soon...