Bristol - New Photographs in Glorious Black and White

I have just loaded the recent photographs to my www.davebutcher.co.uk website that I took when we visited Bristol 3 weeks ago. Our first visit to Bristol - ever, albeit just for one night!

They were all taken with my Mamiya 7 cameras using Ilford FP4 120 film, giving me 10 shots per roll of film. I switched to the spare Mamiya 7 body because the cable release socket on the first was blocked, probably by the end of a broken cable release. It's difficult to buy good quality cable releases these days and the metal screw-ends tend to be quite brittle metal which breaks off in the camera. I used a Gitzo tripod with a Manfrotto head for all of them to make sure the framing was exactly as I wanted it to be and they were pin-sharp.

After processing the films and selecting the final 15 negatives to use they were scanned one at a time on a Nikon Coolscan 9000, edited in Photoshop CS6 and loaded on the website.

Here's a selection from them, to see the full range please visit the website.

Pero's Bridge at Night, Bristol Harbour

Clifton Suspension Bridge at Night

Royal York Crescent, Clifton

Cranes at M Shed, Bristol Harbour

Bristol Millennium Square

Bristol Cathedral and Statue

Next up will be photographs taken around Exmoor and Lynmouth, from the same trip but taken a few days after we left Bristol. They may take a couple of weeks to scan, edit and upload as there's a few more of them.

Bristol by Day

We had a couple of hours on Saturday morning to take photos around Bristol. It was a crisp, cold, sunny day and we started close to our hotel with the Georgian Terraced houses in Royal York Crescent.

Then we went down to the river and the SS Great Britain and on to the harbour. A few good shots here but it was clouding over. On to the nearby cathedral before heading back to the hotel.

After a short break to check out of the hotel there was just time for a few daylight shots of the Clifton Bridge before heading off to Exmoor.

Bristol by Night

Happy New Year!

In case you were wondering where I'd got to I just took it easy for a few weeks. My bad back was the worst it's been in 12 years through 2015 with 4 really bad episodes. So I've had to slow down a bit to build it up and get it back under control. I'm walking the hills for at least an hour a day and another hour or two of workouts and exercises before breakfast. So far I've lost 6kg and am a shadow of my former self!

Instead of going skiing we are having a few days away in the West Country and tonight we are staying in Bristol. Never been to Bristol before!

Our hotel overlooks the Clifton Suspension Bridge and we arrived in time for a few photos at dusk, before it went dark. The bridge is well lit and there is a high viewpoint that looks down on the bridge from the Clifton side. After the first few dusk shots I settled for 2 minutes at f5.6 for most of my photographs, on Ilford FP4 at ISO 125.

There was another photographer there when I arrived, taking time lapse photographs to make into videos. He showed me a very impressive one of Barcelona. It took him hours, moving a few metres at a time. I wouldn't have the patience for it! He also added that he took 30,000 shots on his recent short trip to Barcelona. I pointed out that in my whole life I have taken less than 60,000 negatives!

Here's a phone picture converted to black and white to give you an idea of what I've taken on my proper camera (Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens). Had to use my widest lens to fit the bridge in. We also wandered around the quays and I took a few shots around Millennium Square at night.

Tomorrow we'll take some more photos around Bristol before heading down to Exmoor where we're staying for a few days. Good weather forecast too, yippee!