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...

A little experiment

I recently acquired temporary use of a fish eye lens. I wasn't entirely sure how I would go about getting the images that I wanted. Obviously I had a thought in my head, but having never actually used one before it was always going to bit hit or miss. This is just one from a few that I got. More to follow. The pub I was in was a little too dark to try anything else.

The actual photo needed cropping, but the results are pretty good.

When Saturday Comes

Occasionally I get out of the po-dunk town that I currently reside. Occasionally.

But now that it's August, good times are afoot. There is weekly football. I went to catch a pre-season friendly (as they are slightly more affordable) and thought I would try catch a bit of the atmosphere of a football game. It kind of worked; it also kind of didn't. I was using a new lense that is rather long, and trying to take quick shots (something I haven't really tried to do) proved a little testing at times.

Anyway. As they sing on the terraces:

Oh When the Spurs...

I'm glad I got this shot. I love it. There were loads of flags in the stands, but getting this one was quite special. It's not completely clear, but give me a break it was blowing in the wind.

Lots of flags. The above photo has actually been flipped using The GIMP (PhotoShop software on Linux). Being behind the flags, and the way the wind was blowing meant that I couldn't get the logo the right way round all the time. You can see the Puma logos are backwards. I suppose I should cut them out. But I thought I'd be honest.

Like I said: lots of flags.

Still going with the singularity theme. I probably will forever.

I'm annoyed I cut the end of the sign off. But such is life.

People make football games interesting. I'm still shit at taking photos of them.

Obviously there is a sizeable police presence at football games. Friendlies are pretty timid affairs in all honesty.

Ok. Maybe this is a little better.

All quiet.

I've been a little busy. Slightly preoccupied. Back shortly.

Compare and contrast

Right. So I went to some castle ruins in Baconsthorpe. It's a nice little quiet village on the way to Cromer. Down a (long) quiet little (very narrow) road, are some ruins of an old fortified manor house. It's erroneously called Baconsthorpe Castle. But I guess that has a ring to it.

Anyhow.

There isn't really much to see there, but it's a pretty nice place to sit down and pontificate to the nothingness.

I'm not so confident with colour photos, so I was trying some things with depth. The one above, I crawled half way down into the moat and shot upwards to get the grass in the foreground. The one below is kind of interesting with the varying degrees of light.

I'm glad I went out the day I did. The clear sky made the colour shots come out pretty nicely. I only took about 8 in colour though.

Using the film that I am, I was told I would get a quite a stark difference between the lights and darks. Even on a clear day the black and white pictures came out rather well.

Similar to the photo above. This one below is much better I think.

Obviously I can't hold a camera straight...

I really like the following ones.

I wasn't entirely sure how these would come out. I emphasise a substantial amount of trial and errors made, ended with these photos.

This one's nice. Shame about the fence though.

I take better photos in black and white

It's a strange thing to say. But I really do think photos look better in black and white. You can add a mood to them in pretty unexpected ways. I find myself saying I take better photos in black and white.

These are all from Sandringham House (the house itself is the last photo), where the Queen spends her Christmases. They are all plant life pictures that would make more sense being in colour. But I like the way they turned out.

This one below would probably work better in colour. But it's a cool looking flower. And as it's got a pure white look about it against the varying greys makes it stand out better than expected.

There is a lot of open space around Sandringham. This is just long grass but there are no people. And it's quite nice unspoiled.

There is this nice bank of trees that line up quite nicely. I have clearly stolen all my ideas here.

In contrast to the single flower that came out white, above, the near black look of these is quite a nice juxtaposition.

And this is what Sandringham looks like...

...and a last bit of colour from Peckover House

I used a whole role of film from these gardens. I could put the majority of them up. But I will settle for 12 altogether.

They line the plants up in pretty cool ways, so you can look down the rows and get varying amounts of colour. I think there is too much green in the background and I could have been at a lower angle. But screw it.

Returning to the theme of solitary plants...

(One is the loneliest number...)

I don't know why this was there. But a wheelbarrow full of soil and plants would make a different kind of garden fixture.

I like the look of these things. I never would have thought I would take an objective interest in the shapes and forms of plants.

Here's a half decent example of the varying flora and fauna...

...as is this. It really is a great place to see. It's also shielded off nicely from Wisbech, even though it's in the centre of it. A good place to get away, quietly.