Blog, Interrupted.

Our phone line and internet connection have been down for a few days, hence the recent lack of posts.

Anyway, this is probably the final image from the Clifton Suspension Bridge set, and its a mess, but I like it nonetheless. The lines at the bottom of the frame are a cyclist riding through.

Bridge to the Past

Another image from my third trip to photograph the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This is of the tower on the north bank of the Avon.

Looking at these images has reminded me of the first time that I saw the bridge. Unusually, I can tell you what date that was – it was in March 1996. And I know this because that’s the date written on my Shodan (1^st degree black belt) certificate.

At the time, I was living in Stoke-on-Trent and training with Steve Hulson at the local karate club. In 1995, I’d graded a couple of times – the first attempt was a complete failure, but the second time I got kata only*. So, in early ’96, I needed to finish the job. The first scheduled grading was at Bath Uni and coincided with my fiancé’s birthday, but it was agreed that she would go to visit her mother in Swansea and that I would join her there after the grading.

It was also arranged that one of the black belts at the club, a Nidan call Pete – I really can’t remember his surname – would drive me down to the venue. My memory is that we didn't plan the route – Pete wasn't that sort of guy – so we followed signs. I any case, we must've driven down the M5 to junction 18 and then got onto the A4, rather than cutting across on the M4 which would have been the sensible option.

We had no idea that the A4 would take us under the bridge. We’d set off before dawn and the sun came up on a misty morning, so we didn't see it until we rounded a bend and there it was, right above us. I have a very strong memory of a “wow” moment, with this structure floating in the air above us, before we were past it and into the centre of Bristol. The next thing that I remember is being in Bath, near the station I think, and having to ask directions to the Uni.

I don’t have strong memories of the grading itself, but I passed. Pete shook my hand. He was a thoroughly nice chap who went well out of his way to help me, and I'm embarrassed that I can’t remember his surname. He dropped me at Bath station and I got the train over to Swansea, which took an age because the Severn tunnel was closed and the train had to go round via Gloucester. I remember that it was very cold on the train despite the fact that I was wearing several layers.

Anyway, this line of thought led me to reflect that at the time, I had no idea that I would one day live in the area and that, nearly twenty years on, these locations would be familiar to me. I don’t know what this proves, apart from the fact that you never really know where life will take you, which isn't a terribly profound observation, but true nonetheless.

*For those who aren't au fait with the structure of a karate grading, there are three elements – kihon (basics), kumite (fighting) and kata (set forms or patterns). So long as you pass kihon, you can fail one of the other two and be called back for that element only.

At the previous grading, which would have been in December ’95, I impressed Sensei Enoeda enough to give me a pass on kumite despite getting my nose broken and bleeding everywhere, but he decided to call me back for kata. This was a bit of surprise because I considered that to be my strong suit. Consequently, I saw the March grading as a bit of a formality, so I was keen to get on with it.

This contrasts with my experience grading for Nidan, were I got kumite only on my second attempt and then spent the next few years repeatedly failing that element, to the point where I gave up grading for a while and finally scraped a pass in March 2008.

Bridge That Gap

We're now on to the third Clifton Suspension Bridge session. I started with a doomed attempt to make some more images from the east side of the bridge, which I pretty soon abandoned and made my way over to the west.

As you can see, this particular evening was cloudy and there was a strong wind. If the previous occasions had been a bit chilly, then this time it was actually cold, in the brass monkeys sense.

Despite this, I managed to make a few decent images and this is probably my favourite. I'll post some of the others shortly.

Underneath the Arches

Another image made from my viewpoint directly underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge on my second outing to photograph it. 

This one is looking at the northern buttress - unfortunately, the roof of the road tunnel has found its way into the frame, and there's no viable way of cropping it out. Plus, light from the traffic has fogged the image.

Still, the clear sky adds something, and I think the result is still worth posting.

Bridge of Stars

Another image from the second Clifton Suspension Bridge outing. This one includes a couple of the trees around the seating area under the bridge.

Take It To The Bridge

Following the near failure of my first attempt to shoot the Clifton Suspension Bridge, I returned the following week with a revised plan. Firstly, I'd decided to allow myself more time on-site. Secondly, I was going to get closer to my subject.

This was to be achieved by the simple expedient of walking down the Portway. My intention was to shoot the bridge from the east and then, if there was time, to move round to the other side and shoot from the west, hoping that might give me a better vantage point.

The east side proved to be a bust. The speeding cyclists made it impossible to set up on the narrow pavement and the only point at which there was room was too close to the bridge. In any case, the high street lights ahead of me were unavoidable in the frame and the ones behind fogged my images.

So, I decided to cut my loses and move to the west side of the bridge. That was, until I got directly underneath and found that there was a seating area with a couple of benches and a few trees. So I set up and started making images and spent the rest of my time there - the west side would have to wait for another day.

This is one of the first images that I made, of the brick buttress on the south bank of the river, surrounded by the trees of Leigh Woods.

Compositionally, the underside of the bridge was a gift. Also, in the time that I'd spent pratting about the sky had cleared and the stars had come out. Consequently, there were a few successful images from this session which I'll post shortly.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

You may remember that towards the end of last year, I'd found a new slot in my itinerary for photography, in that time between work and karate training. Anyway, that was all fine, but a combination of bad weather and social commitments meant that the SS Great Britain outing was the only one that I managed before Christmas. 

However, the New Year arrived, the weather improved and I managed three trips in January, all to shoot the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

This image is from the first trip. The day had been very wet, with winds gusting to gale force and it was still raining as I drove out to the Cumberland Basin. Fortunately, by the time I arrived, the rain had passed and I took up my planned position on the western-most end of Spike Island.

The rain may have stopped, but the wind was still very strong and I lost a fair few images to camera shake. Add to that, I'd only allowed myself half an hour on site and I had to move my view point repeatedly to find a position that avoided light flare from the traffic on the Portway . In the end, this was the only usable image that I got and I've had to crop it to a letterbox format to loose a great area of empty sky at the top of the frame.

For the record, I shot this with my Alpha 77, which still has my Tamron super-zoom on it after the Lacock trip.

The following two trips were more successful and I have a number of images to post, which I'll do over the next couple of weeks. I suspect that I'll run out of bridge themed post titles, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad of them.