Hart’s Bakery

On Tuesday I got up at the somewhat unprecedented hour of 5:15 and went to take some photos at Hart's Bakery near (almost under) Temple Meads in Bristol. I'd asked owner Laura Hart a couple of weeks before about going in to take some photos and she was more than happy for me to do so, and was wonderfully helpful throughout. Here are a selection of the photos - I've converted pretty much all of them to black and white, and they seem to work well like that, but I have included both colour and b&w versions of those that work well in both. Hopefully I'll be going back in a week or two to do some more, at a more sensible hour when Laura prepares the bread and pastries for the next day....
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A London Trip

We took a trip up to London (our second in three weekends, after not having been for several years). This time the main reason was for me to go to a Status Quo gig at the Hammersmith Odeon - it will always be the Odeon to me, not the Apollo. There, I've said it. My name is Simon and I'm a Status Quo fan. In all fairness, this was the original lineup playing for the first time in over 30 years and I never saw that lineup play. They had also committed to playing nothing they recorded after 1976, which happens to be the point that I think they started going downhill. Rockin' All Over The World was the start of a long slow decline. Prior to that, they were a fantastic rock band. Anyway, you're here for the photos. We have three from around the Temple Quay area of Bristol - we allowed plenty of time for the bus to get there and...
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Cumberland Basin

Today was the first trip out with the full new camera kit - yesterday I traded in the D200 and lenses and picked up a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 lens to go with the 24-70 f/2.8. I headed down to Cumberland Basin in Bristol and took some pretty industrial stuff - photos that turned out really nicely in black and white. I started off around the Floating Harbour/Avon locks, then headed along the Portway where there are a couple of old jetties that are decaying rather nicely. Finally, just by Bridge Valley Road, there are a couple of old bits of rail tunnel that have been blocked up. There are quite a lot here, but I took 300 shots today and I like what I've got. I'm not sure if it's the D600 or the high-spec lensesthat's made the difference  (probably both) but these shots are really crisp and sharp. Liking the new kit. ...
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Richard Hawley

We went to see Richard Hawley at the Colston Hall in Bristol last night - I'm not that familiar with his music, but have liked the bits that SWMBO has played, and got tickets on the basis that she'd like to see him. Oh boy, what a good decision that was - a really good concert, and the loudest I've been to for a while. It's sort of hard to describe his music, they're often really nice gentle love songs but with searing guitar solos and occasional interludes of fantastic guitar and bass noise. One of the better gigs I've been to, and even better because it was a pleasant surprise. Thanks to the really rather good Ents24 website, I was very on the ball with regard to tickets, and we were in the middle of the front row of the balcony - a great view. So I took the little compact and took a few photos - I don't think Richard Hawley really...
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