Due to only being able to fit in photographing in my lunch hour I am very limited as to how far out I can go so I decided to use my bike to venture out a bit further ie St Pauls. Gasp shock horror.
When I mention to my colleagues the areas I take pictures they always say "urrgh oh no you'll get mugged down there". Thing is even though I am not from Bristol, St Pauls is similar to a lot of areas in London where I grew up. So even though I walk around with a camera I still blend in well because I am used to places like this. Growing up in the 70's in a London suburb, as soon as you can walk and talk you are pretty much left to your own devices with very little adult intervention. So armed with a few guidelines : 1. Dont talk to strangers or anyone who looks pervy. 2. Watch out for cars. 3. Home before it gets dark. I spent a lot of my time outside exploring.
Anyway moving on. Cycled up to Stokes Croft Parked my bike and walked down to St Pauls but to be honest it looked really quiet. So I changed my mind. I was not scared or anything. Honest guvnor. It just was not going to happen. So headed down to Montpelier which looked a bit more interesting. Managed to catch a guy on a bike. Cool. I like the big thick white line.
Noticed a guy with a dog so took a few pictures of him with the dog low down to cut out space above. Actually worked quite well.
Walking through Montpelier I notice a girl doing the dishes in a restaurant window. It looks like I can get nice tones from this shot so I take a few shots. mmmm not bad.
As I walk down there seems to be a lack of people around so I just take pictures of crap lying around on the floor and then I spot a door with odd things on it so I wait for a subject to walk past. Bam!
I like the two oranges in this and the fact the door looks like a smiley face. Is it luck I wonder.
I also spot a window which is low down so again I wait for a bit. Not for long though.
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I like to take pictures of things that other people cannot take. You wont see this montage again.
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As I go around the corner I see a bit of an argument going on between a shop keeper and a drunk guy.
I mean the guy is pretty out of it. I try to chat with him but its really difficult because he is so pissed.
I wonder if he will give me a sip of his gin. :P
As I head back I stumble across two oldish ladies having a chat. I take a few pictures of them and they really dont have a care in the world bless em. The contacts for this shoot must be about 8. Contacts meaning, if you dont know, the amount of pictures that are taken at a scene. To give you a rough idea, I took about 100 pictures today and the ones that I thought were good are the ones you see. Photography lesson over. Lets move on.
As I am heading back through Stokes Croft I see some Asian guys busy doing stuff. I think I took only one picture, I should of took more really but the guy was getting a bit suspicious.
Take a few across the road which come out ok.
The next one is interesting because I actually nearly get killed taken this picture.
What I attempt to do is take a picture through a car window to the other side of the street catching someone else in a sort of juxtaposition. The problem is I end up standing in the middle of the road. It sort of works but sort of don't. Take a look.
Anyway heading past a barbers which has loads of mirrors inside I see some guys smoking outside. I ask them if they work there and they do. So I explain to them that I take pictures of the area and would love to do some from inside the barbers next week. He seems really cool with this so I arrange next thursday lunch time. Stay tuned folks.
The last picture is probably the best. I couple of lads are playing table tennis and I take a few pictures. They tell me I have to get permission from there youth worker so I ask him and he seems fine about it. Turns out he works for a charity that helps young homeless kids. The youngsters are really cool and ask me to play table tennis with them. Unfortunately I am way over my lunch so decline but next time I most definitely will. Thats it till next time.
