BRISTOL 131 – WALKING UP STAIRS, TOWARDS A DRAINPIPE

 

 

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Early for an appointment in the city.  Early for an appointment to road test a camera as it happens. 

And so to roaming the streets, looking at anything and everything, taking it all in.

A dark entry beckoned, sombre stairs disappearing up into loneliness, silence, gloom and shadow. 

I found myself nervously ascending between dimly seen, decorated walls, my little camera clutched close, clutched tight as a talisman.

But enlightenment, I was heading up towards light!  I was heading up – as it happened – towards a drainpipe. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; St Stephen’s Street, central Bristol; 12 Feb 2019.

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BRISTOL 130 – THE OUTER SUBURBS (MONO)

 

 

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Bristol’s city centre is actually quite small, it can be walked right across in an hour or so, but it is surrounded by suburbs that are vaster (and often wealthier) on the north, and smaller (and in many parts less well to do) on the south.  Most of my pictures of the city have been from the city centre but here is one quite far out in the southern suburbs.  This is the A37, known as the Wells Road, which is a main artery heading south out of the city towards the tiny city of Wells, and also Yeovil and – that (to me anyway) holiest of holies – the county of Dorset.

The edge of the city is not far ahead, perhaps a couple of miles or so, and beyond that are some of my favourite areas of countryside – the Chew Valley, the Mendip Hills and, of course – perhaps my spiritual home – the Somerset Levels.  This blog has image Categories for each of those areas – see the Categories drop-down list, which can be found in the sidebar, just below the gravatars of readers who have left Comments.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again – recommended.

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 129mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Provia/Standard film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Antique Portrait preset; south Bristol; 19 July 2016.
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BRISTOL 129 – MISTY MORNING, TEMPLE MEADS RAILWAY STATION

 

 

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Early morning, and the facade of Bristol’s main railway station – Temple Meads – is softened by the mist.

I have known this station for all of my life.  I can still remember, as a little boy – 60 years ago at least – riding out of this station on a train, and putting my head out of the carriage window (ah, the days before Health & Safety …) to see the great clouds of steam shooting up from the big, chugging and coughing locomotive that was hauling us along.

Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Bristol; 20 Apr 2018.
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BRISTOL 128 – SILHOUETTE, JUST BEFORE SUNRISE

 

 

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Walking in south Bristol on a frosty morning, with the sun just about to come up.  This silhouette opened up on my left: a building, a tall tree, curling branches – and two gulls, waiting for it to get a little lighter before starting to look for food.

The sun is just about to appear: a tiny contrail just left of the tree’s massive trunk is already lit up.

The first image in this series, along with context, can be found here.  Subsequent images are here: 2 3

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 2,000 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 28 Nov 2017.
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BRISTOL 127 – THE SUN BREAKING THROUGH

 

 

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A cold morning, and the rising sun starts to burn through the mists over Whitchurch village, on the southern outskirts of Bristol.

The first image in this series, along with context, can be found here.  Subsequent images are here: 2   .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 320 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Whitchurch, south Bristol; 2 Nov 2017.
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BRISTOL 126 – PARADISE

 

 

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As you open this post, I can hear you thinking “This is Paradise?!  Has FATman finally lost it???”.  Well, to me, in a way, yes it is paradise.  Why do I think this?  Have I finally lost the plot?  And, then again, how can I have lost something I’ve never really found in the first place?

OK, explanations.  This is a little cut through between two back lanes in south Bristol, that I regularly pass through during the 5 mile walks that I use to relax and free my mind and to (hopefully) reduce my waistline.  Its a very simple little place.  Just some grass that is roughly cut by the local council, and a stream flowing through a little culvert – water which, despite the houses close in upon either side, probably explains why this lovely little spot has never been built on.

And then there’s this absolutely beautiful and serene tree, with a canopy like some vast umbrella, which looks just ideal for sitting under on some reflective day, although I have yet to do so.  Add to all this a very friendly little ginger and white cat who has lost most of his tail, and for the brief times that I’m within this quiet little space, I feel uplifted and very much at peace, and so … paradise …

And you’re seeing this delightful little spot perhaps at its best.  The cat’s not there, to be sure, but the grass has been cut, the tree is ablaze with autumn’s hues, and all is shrouded by a soft, autumn mist.

I have for a long time, perhaps for all of my life in fact, hankered after the simple life – I warmly recall my first years in Kenya, without phone, TV or radio, but with geckos chattering back and for to each other across my living room –  and those feelings have only accelerated since my retirement from work four years ago.  Modern life and technology seem only to make things ever more complex and rushed, but I’m after far more simple pleasures and a far more leisurely pace – and maybe this little, unpretentious space goes some way towards symbolising those ideals.

The first image in this series, along with context, can be found here.

Click onto this image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again.

Technique: TG-5 at 57mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Natural film preset; Whitchurch, south Bristol; 2 Nov 2017.

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BRISTOL 125 – TOWN AND COUNTRY

 

 

 

The Olympus Tough TG-5 camera  is new to me, the first Olympus (other than, briefly, the mju-ii) that I’ve used since the heady days of the classic OM-1 and OM-2, back in the early 1970s.  Tough cameras are just that – waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof and crushproof to various degrees.  My plan is to take this one out in bad weather – torrential rain comes to mind – and to photograph in these conditions.  I’m mad?  Oh yes, devoutly …

I’m primarily drawn to this camera because of its waterproof qualities, but it also shoots raw files, has quite good autofocus, and contains the same image processor as current top of the range Olympus cameras.  Furthermore it has a 25mm-100mm (full frame equivalent) zoom lens, which is a very handy range when longer telephotos are not required.  Its sensor is very small however (1/2.3 in), but it is a small and light camera, very handy to carry when out walking.  And so to some images, taken during a walk around south Bristol on a misty autumn morning – and, who knows, maybe pictures taken on later walks too.

Most of my pictures of Bristol have been from the city’s centre, but now here are some taken far out in the suburbs, where the city blends into (or maybe, intrudes upon) the surrounding countryside – although thousands of new homes are scheduled to be built not far to the left of this picture soon – so this view may no longer be on the city’s edge in the not too far distant future …

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film preset; Whitchurch, south Bristol; 2 Nov 2017.

PLEA FOR FEEDBACK: I’ve been having problems using WordPress’s original post editor, and WP Tech Support now tell me that these problems are due to a bug in Internet Explorer.  Please can you let me know if my posts display any errors or peculiarities from here on in?  Many thanks!  Adrian

 

BRISTOL 124 – AND IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE CAT 7

 

 

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Lying down, relaxing beside us, being with us.  This cat lives with friends of ours’, and one of the things that I really love about her is her quite evident desire for human closeness and company.  And so, when we visited our friends last week, we sat around a table in their kitchen chatting, and the cat was at first nowhere to be seen.  But she must have heard us, because she soon appeared and was at once all around our feet, and then jumped up onto a seat and sat beside us.  She has the thickest fur of any cat I’ve ever known and it is a great tactile pleasure to stroke her, but she seems to like being around people whether she’s being stroked or not – she just lies still, relaxes and enjoys the company.

Earlier images in this series, all of this particular cat, can be found here: 1  2  3  4  5  6  .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again.

Technique: D700 with 105mm Nikkor lens; 3200 ISO; Lightroom; Bristol; 24 Aug 2017.
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BRISTOL 123 – STEPS OFF BALDWIN STREET (MONO)

 

 

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Steps from Baldwin Street up towards St Nicholas Street.

And the effects of tilting a very wide lens slightly upwards – yes there’s a wide field of view, but see how the metal post at upper right is tilting drunkenly outwards, while less obviously the same is true of the wall at upper left.  Purists can probably correct such effects with software but I imagine this would reduce the overall area of view, and I’m happy to go with the effect as it is.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto the larger version to enlarge it yet again – recommended.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 15mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 2 preset; Bristol; 4 Aug 2017.
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BRISTOL 122 – CITY CENTRE GREEN SPACE

 

 

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Somewhat ravaged Dandelion catching the morning light in perfunctory flower bed outside a shopping mall.

Of course we’re a Green city!  Actually I’m doing Bristol a disservice as it does have some nice green bits, and anyone really wanting to see flowers is not in any case going to go looking for them in shopping mall flower beds, are they?!

And some of you may point out that Dandelions are in any case weeds – but, although not being any great Green/botanical activist, weed is a term that I simply do not subscribe to.  The fact that something is growing where we have decreed that it is not allowed cannot in any way lessen that something’s status as a living organism.  Plants are plants are plants, period.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and then click onto the enlarged image to enlarge it yet again.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 250mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; The Galleries shopping mall, central Bristol; 7 July 2017.

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