Cabot Circus

Now that the lighter nights have arrived, the whole hanging around in Bristol waiting to go training thing has taken on a new aspect, in that I have to find something worth photographing in daylight.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I found my way to Brandon Hill Park, which surrounds Cabot Tower. On the first occasion, I arrived too late to go up the tower, so I returned the following week. This image was made from the lower viewing platform - I didn't make it to the upper platform - looking south east, I think. My knowledge of the geography of Bristol is a bit sketchy at best.

Bridge End

British Summer Time started at the end of March and the previous week saw my final visit Clifton Down to photograph the suspension bridge at night. As luck would have it, it was on this occasion that I finally found the best vantage point for this purpose. This turned out to be near the observatory and a few metres from the point at which I'd ended my previous visit, a couple of weeks before.

Frustratingly, the sun had only just set when I had to leave for my training session - the image above is the last that I took before packing up. Also, the tower on the northern bank was surrounded by scaffolding, which hadn't been there a couple of weeks before. 

All in all, not a terribly successful note to end this series on, but I think that enough is enough and I'll move on to another subject in my next post.

Upon Reflection

Another week, another visit to Avon Gorge. This time, I stayed around the Cumberland Basin, waiting for darkness. But the year had moved on and it was still quite light when the time came for me to leave to get to training.

I made this image whilst I was mooching around, looking for something to shoot in the twilight, having noticed the reflection in the river water. It lacks the, um, drama of previous images in this series, but I like the composition.

I should say that, a couple of weeks previously, I had switched back to my Alpha 550 for one reason and another, and I've really started to notice just how agricultural it is compared to my Alpha 77. I'm beginning to think that its days are numbered - at 14 Mega-pixels, with poor high ISO performance, its beginning to show its age. 

The question now becomes this; do I buy myself an RX100 or hold onto my cash for the rumoured A77 replacement due early in 2016? The former neatly dodges the A-mount versus E-mount dilemma, which makes it an attractive option, but means that I'll have to keep the A77 for the foreseeable future, which is obviously a hardship.

Observation & Reflection

We're now onto my third week of attempts to photograph Clifton Suspension Bridge from the top of the gorge, and it was at this point that I finally found a good vantage point. This was near the Observatory, were this image was made.

A Bridge Too Far

My previous outing to Circular Walk had been a failure, so the following week I planning my trip more carefully. A bit of time spent on Street View identified the area next to the bridge, off Sion Hill as a likely spot to get some good images.

However, there were still problems. Even at the wide-angle end of my Tamron super-zoom, I still couldn't get the whole length of the bridge into a single image. This is one of the better shots from that trip, but I still hadn't got to the image that was in my head. 

Circular Reasoning

Having spent three weeks photographing the Clifton Suspension Bridge from below, and flushed with success, I decided to try my luck from the top of the gorge. 

My first attempt was from the vantage point along Circular Walk on Clifton Down, which was a failure. I'd forgotten about the high railings and the fact that you can't see the whole of the bridge, add to which it was very dark and cold. I didn't stay long, so this is one of the few images to come out of the session.

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.

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.

River Pheonix

Okay, this really is the last image from the SS Great Britain set that I'm going to post. Something different next time, I promise.

Somewhere Down the Crazy River

A final(?) image from the SS Great Britain set, probably the most successful of the lot, in terms of composition, anyway. 

I suspect that I'll return to this subject before the winter is out.

Reaching for Composure

Looking at the previous image, its noticeable that an idea of composition went out of the window whilst I was concentrating on getting a reasonably well exposed image. This one is a bit better, I think.

A New Departure

My training routine has taken a bit of a hit recently. The karate club at which I train has lost one of its venues, which has reduced them down to one ninety minute session a week.

There has been a unexpected benefit, which is that a bit of my time has been freed up, although it took me a while to appreciate that it could be used for photography. The penny finally dropped whilst I was sat in traffic on Hotwell Road, looking across the river at the SS Great Britain.

So, long story short, a couple of weeks later, I was back with my camera and tripod. The evening was perfect (I assume - I'm new to this nocturnal photography lark) being very still, with a low overcast and I made a number of images.

One thing that I didn't expect - because I hadn't thought the process through, really - was how long it would take to make each exposure. I set the shutter speed to 30 seconds and then varied the aperture to control exposure, which meant that with post processing, each one took a whole minute, which is a long time when you're stood around in the cold. Then there were a couple of occasions when I released the shutter accidentally whilst trying to get the camera to autofocus - I was wearing gloves, to be fair - and during one exposure I made the beginners mistake of kicking the tripod.

Anyway, the image above is the first decent shot that I produced during the session. There are a few more to come, which I'll post over the next few days.