Bridges, bridges and more bridges

No one would be surprised to hear that Great Yarmouth in Norfolk is situated at the mouth of a river although the main river is the Yare rather than the Yar (I wonder where it picked up the letter e, maybe it is the rich Norfolk accent that lead to to its inclusion)

Not surprisingly for a large town with its historically important port at the mouth of a river there have always been issues with moving people and goods from one side of the river to the other.

Until 1427 the only way across was to use one of  a number of ferries for people and cattle, but that year saw the building of the 1st bridge very close to where the current Haven bridge is sited, in fact the current bridge when it was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1930 was the 7th bridge across the Yare.

The current bridge was constructed by Sir William Arrol & Co. Ltd whose portfolio also included the Forth Rail Bridge in 1890, Tower Bridge in 1894 and the Nile Bridge at Cairo in 1908. They also built the Middlesborough Transporter bridge 19911 (made famous in on TV by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet), The Forth Road Bridge 1964 , The Severn Bridge 1966 and the Humber Bridge 1981 (and was the longest suspension bridge in the world from 1981 to 1998 and is still the 5th largest suspension bridge in the world) so these guys seem to the ones to go to if you want a great bridge built

The 650 ton lifting arms are raised electrically, although can be operated manually in the event of a power failure - blimey that'd take a long time to raise 2 times 650 tons using muscle power alone.

The last ferry stopped working in the early 1990's

In 1845 the Yarmouth Suspension Bridge disaster took place when about 80 people were drowned, mainly children. They had crowded onto the suspension bridge over the river Bure (a tributary of the Ware) to see a circus clown go down the river in a barrel pulled by geese.  The tombstone of George Beloe (aged nine) in St Nicholas' churchyard depicts the bridge collapsing.

The coming of the railways also meant that a swing railway bridge was built to take the direct line from London & Lowestoft over the river. The river traffic was given priority over the trains. The second span on the Cobholm side pivotted on its axis to allow large ships through. In strong winds it could take up to 10 minutes for the operation of the bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic in the 1950's and was demolished in 1962 so it didn't even make it as far as being axed by Dr Beeching


As road traffic around Great Yarmouth and Gorleston increased during the 1970s, the area began to suffer severe congestion problems with long queues of vehicles building up at peak periods. The construction of a new road bridge crossing Breydon Water began in 1984 as part of the Great Yarmouth A12 western bypass and the Gorleston inner relief road. The new bridge was supplied and erected by Cleveland Bridge Ltd. of County Durham and, although completed in 1985, it was not officially opened to road traffic until early in 1986 when the rest of the bypass had been finished. The bridge closely follows the line of the old rail viaduct and, during construction the original pilings were finally removed to make way for the new bridge. The lifting arm weighs around 500 tons and is raised by hydraulics, taking just 90 seconds to open fully. A standby generator was installed as a back up in case of power failure. I believe that it is still be biggest single lifting bascule bridge in the UK luckily without the need for manual backup

The bridge is operated by The Great Yarmouth Port Company

There are now proposed  plans for a third river crossing in Great Yarmouth but in the current economic climate I can't really see these coming to fruition in the foreseeable future

Coming soon ?

Sometimes you expect something to happen soon and then it all goes wrong

In the case of this building in Norwich which looks like it was scheduled for redevelopment into residential use it was probably the down turn in property values that caused it to be left in limbo for so long that half of the sign has fallen down (I wouldn't have been too keen to have been walking underneath when it came down)

For me it's been a broadband issue

What things have you hoped would happen ?



Paul Davis Photography

Is it Christmas yet ?

I really do love Christmas, I love buying the tree and helping my son decorate it, I love buying presents and I love Christmas day itself. It's much of the other stuff that goes with it that I find goes on for so long it becomes tedious.

And anyway I don't think it can be Christmas yet especially as so far  I've not bought a single present and I really must buy some mince pies

Perhaps I should fire up a few shopping sites this evening and get shopping meanwhile I can think of warmer summer days and the wide open skies of East Anglia

Sometimes your tongue is an important aid to concentration

Photography is often used to capture an expression, usually that expression is either a smile of some sort of candid (subject didn't know the camera was there) shot.

There are other times when the image captures the huge mental effort that is required to be successful particularly in certain sports

These images were captured last year at Blaxhall in Suffolk during a Trials riding event run by the Woodbridge & DMCC & CC. In a trials competition the riders gain points for amongst other things for putting a foot down (or dabbing as it is known) with the rider with the lowest points score being the winner, so these competitors are trying their hardest to keep their balance and not dab

Out comes the tongue as an aid to concentration 

 There it is again

 Face in neutral

Love that expression

 Easy, done this before

 ooooh, eeeek

 I will not put a foot down, I will not put a foot down

Not sure what this expression is but it's not a happy one

I'm available to come along to any sort of motorsport or in fact for any sort of sport to capture the action. Please get in touch if you have an event coming up.

Via the webiste at www.pauldavisphotography.co.uk or on 07866 719730

What do you think, Tom, Dick & Harry perhaps ?

I spotted this at an auto jumble back in the summer

For those that don't know an auto jumble is like a jumble sale for car bits. You can find people selling all sorts of stuff from piles of rusty rubbish through to precious parts that are just what someone needs to complete the restoration of their 4-wheeled pride & joy.

I started my photographic career as a media accredited motorsports photographer and cars still form a major subject for me and my work hence my love of events like auto jumbles and the strange sights you can sometimes find.

If you or your other-half love a piece of machinery that you would like photographed so it can be proudly displayed on the wall or on the desk at work please do get in touch with me via my website Paul Davis Photography or on 07866 719730

So what do people think, do spanners always have boys names ?

Do Smiley's People live here

Every photograph can tell a story, it is the job of the photographer to see that story in their minds-eye and to set about capturing it. The story could be about a 1st day at school, it could be the start of a happy married life through to being a story about why the consumer should buy your product be it a tin of delicious baked beans through to a tower crane.

Sometimes the story in the picture isn't complete and leaves the viewer wondering what is just out of shot or perhaps what they would look like if they lived in that luxury home.

Just what goes into that bottom letter box ? Maybe it is a dead letter drop for a spy, letters containing the details of the next assassination victim on the other side of the world who will be bumped off using some ingenious weapon dreamed up by Q and his team or could be it be as simple as a brass letter G not being available and it's just the usual junk mail & gas bills ?

Will we ever know ? probably not

Photography can tell your story, it can help you sell your product or help to capture precious memories - the story is up to you 

Memories la la la

Memories,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were

Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

Much of photography is about memories, we can look at dusty pictures of our great grandparents and spot how our children really have inherited the "family" nose. But we can often look at these pictures and wonder who the person in the background is or perhaps what the special occasion was that made them go out and spend their hard earned cash to get a photographer to capture the moment.


Yes photography can bring the past to life but it can also leave questions unanswered, questions that would have been answered if more photographs were available to complete the story.


The image above was taken this year in Great Yarmouth and is a relic of the days 20 years ago when Yarmouth harbour provided a car ferry service to Europe , the sign remains, unloved but still a living museum piece.


A new outer harbour was completed at Yarmouth this year and was furnished with 2 £7 million container cranes and some hinted promise of a new Ro-Ro (roll on, roll off) car ferry service to the Netherlands. But now less than a year later the cranes are going and the ferry service idea has been put on hold as the Great Yarmouth outer harbour concentrates on servicing the renewable energy sectors with the older parts of Yarmouth harbour providing extensive support for the southern North Sea oil & gas industry.


Photography can be used to capture the story but of course the story changes especially in business as the economic climate changes. If you are in business you should always ensure that you are recording your history and also presenting your future to your customers & stakeholders


If you would like to discuss your photography requirements with Paul Davis Photography please call me on 07866 719730 or email on contact@pauldavisphotography.co.uk

Song Credits: Bergman, Alan (Songwriter); Bergman, Marilyn (Songwriter); Hamlisch, Marvin (Songwriter); COLGEMS-EMI MUSIC INC (Publisher)

So photography is like loitering & sketching ?

There have been plenty of news reports over the last couple of years of photographers being hassled by security guards or even being arrested by the police just for attempting to take pictures in a public place

Generally it is perfectly legal to take pictures of anyone or anything in a public place and recently the police in many areas have had additional guidance issued to them about how they should operate when they come across a photographer at work out on the streets. Several photography trade bodies & publications also issued copies of the guidelines for journalistic photographers to carry with them

But there are some places where photography is banned these include locations that are subject to the Official Secrets Acts 1911-1939 as Ministry of Defence Prohibited Places, they have signs on them with the rather quaint wording

"Prohibited place within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act. Loitering, photography, sketching forbidden."

and in fact Google Streetview fell foul of these restrictions and had to remove images of many MOD and MI5 locations from its service but I'm not aware of anyone being pounced on for getting out a sketch pad

I do hope I don't get a knock on the door (or worse) for publishing this image from a now defunct military establishment somewhere in England

Christmas WiRE

My partner Antonella is a member of the WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) networking organisation. WiRE is the only organisation offering support to businesswomen in rural areas although the term rural does seem to include towns

On Tuesday this week the West Suffolk WiRE network held its Christmas Bazaar at the lovely The Grange Hotel in Thurston near Bury St Edmunds and Antonella was exhibiting to showcase her boudoir and portraiture services. As the weather wasn't looking too promising we left loads of time to travel to the hotel but it turned out to be an easy journey and we arrived rather early. This did offer us the time for a nice relaxed lunch, the menu was one of those that made it very difficult to make a choice as it all sounded so wonderful, in the end we both went for a club sandwich which was a great choice as it turned out to be the best club sandwich either of us had ever had.

After lunch we set up Antonella's stand and had a good look around at the stands of the other exhibitors which included every variety of craft from jewellery to handbags & from painting to artisan soft drinks. Everything you could want to get your Christmas shopping off to a flying start including a boudoir photo shoot for your loved one by Antonella

Antonella together with another local business woman, Maureen Chadwick of Painted Tree bespoke furniture has set-up an East of Norfolk WiRE network which will be holding its 1st meeting in February 2010 in the Great Yarmouth area. So I'm sure you'll be reading more about that over at Antonella's blog in the coming weeks

Warmth in the winter

Well finally my heating is working properly again (after 3 visits from the heating engineer and many cups of tea)

So finally I can start my photo a day blogging

The 1st image I bring to you is of the Platform Supply Vessel MV Sophie Siem at work in Great Yarmouth harbour in Norfolk UK

The vessel belongs to the Norwegian company, Siem Offshore and was built in 2006. Interestingly Siem Offshore is based in Kristiansand in Norway which is twinned with Letchworth which is the town next to my home town of Hitchin in Herts UK


The vessel is a Platform Supply Vessel designed to carry out regular supply functions and cargo transport for
the oil industry as well as Standby functions. The vessel is designed with a well deck for maximum protection
for cargo and crew.

If your business needs images to promote its activities especially in the marine sector please do get in touch to discuss your requirements

The best laid plans of mice

Well I really had planned to blog about an image every week day but ......

Then the weather dropped below 0 and then my central heating broke down so rather than spending too much time shivering next to my little fan heater I decided to spend a few days warming up at Antonella's place. I was already due to be helping her at a WiRE (women in rural enterprise) networking Christmas bizarre where she is showcasing her boudoir and portrait photography.

More blogging tomorrow and this time there will be pictures and I will be waiting in for the heating engineer - burr

A new track for my blog

As I have mentioned in previous blog postings I quite like some graffiti and this rat recently caught my eye on a "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" basis. So I have decided to make it the 1st image as part of a new track that my blog is taking (excuse the track pun as this rat adorns a railway footbridge quite near to where I live in North Hertfordshire).

My plan is to post a picture every day but as this is almost the weekend I thought I would start with a personal image rather than starting to showcase my commercial & client work

Please check back every weekday to see more of my work as well as more textual blog postings.

It would also be great to hear about any graffiti in your part of the world that interests you

Thanks

Paul

Where does the time go ?

I had an interesting time on Friday with Antonella, one of her images was used by Alfa Romeo as part of some artwork used to celebrate their centenary in 2010 and we had to drop into her local Alfa Romeo dealer (Desira) in Norwich to collect her personalised copy of the artwork. Then it was off to have a professional sensor clean on some of our camera bodies which gave just enough time for a most agreeable lunch to be taken in. We also spent some time in the city buying some items for the forthcoming show season which will no doubt form part of a future blog posting.

Where does the time go ? Well Friday seems to have flown by as have the several months since I last posted on my blog

The photographers eye and a Dog Full of Money

Good photographers are often said to have better eyes than those who are not blessed with the capability to do more than take snaps.

A good photographer sees things differently and can often "see" things that are not yet there by pre-visualising a shot in their head. They then turn it into reality by positioning the subject in the environment, choosing the right camera angles and settings  and sometimes adding props and lighting. 

I think I am lucky that I also can see things that others don't see - I'm often the one in a group who says "ooh look at that" when the rest of the group had missed it. My son is lucky that I seem to have passed on this ability to him.

Over the years my son and I often spot things when we are around town and set out to document them photographically and are often surprised how many of these hidden items pop up over time when you seek them out.

Following on from my blog posting a few weeks ago on local graffiti around my home town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire (You can't find a decent bit of graffiti when you need it - but is it art ?)

I thought I would post about some other "found art" - this type of image started off in a very low key way but we soon found that actually they were breeding like rabbits which is ironic given that they are dogs, a very special sort of dogs

To begin with I though that Dog Full of Money (DFM) would turn out to be a local band and these were promo stickers but it turned out they are a celebration of those collection boxes you used to see on the High Street to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. The producer of the stickers seem to have a Bristol connection and also a strong foothold in Hitchin.

In the years since these images were take many of these stickers are now faded remnants proving that art is only temporary

Not all of them featured the Dogs themselves there were others with the letters D, F and M and often shared their space with graffiti 

And they came in a number of designs, some with cut outs like the one at the top

Sometimes they shared a post with some band stickers

These 2 were placed on a the mounting for a CCTV camera, I don't suppose the camera can look straight down

Virgin Media cable TV boxes were a favourite target, here with the 3 headed dog

and I am amused by the fact that this post box is right outside another photographers studio

I will miss them when they are all gone but I'm always on the look out for the next thing to say "ooh look at that" 

What is there in your environment that others overlook ?

Well it made me smile

Do you think these two will have a long and happy marriage or will he turn out to be a little wooden or maybe she could turn out to be just like her mother ? and anyway shouldn't they be inside the venue enjoying their reception not outside directing their guests

What funny things have you seen at a wedding, I'd love to hear, please add a comment below

What goes on behind the scenes at my photo shoots or maybe not - reality comes to advertising

I recently came across this behind the scenes video that shows what has to happen in order for a large corporation such as Domino's Pizza to shoot a few seconds of a "cheese pull".


 It shows some of the 150 people including a hand model (wearing gloves until the last minute before the shoot in order to protect her hands), lighting crew, grips and  the dozens of food stylists who adjust the pizza after it is cooked using spatulas, knives, cotton buds and tweezers to make the food looks as perfect as it does when it arrives at your door ;-)


You'll have to watch the video to see the use of power tools and other hardware but please do continue to read the blog after you have watched it





In reality it was shot for a Domino's campaign called Show Us Your Pizza, where they promise to bring reality in to their advertising photography and film making and also offer up to $500 to their customers who send in their own winning pizza pictures


Russell Weiner, Chief Marketing Officer of Domino's makes the following promise

Our Photo Promise

Here at Domino's, we don't think our inspired Domino's pizza needs the "extra" things typically done to food at photo shoots to look mouth watering. Our pizza is good enough to stand on its own. That's why we're making the following promises about how we photograph our pizzas from this day forward. Did we just buck the food photography trend? Oh yes we did.

We will only photograph real, honest-to-goodness pizzas.

That means fresh from our own ovens, with exactly the same ingredients we deliver to your doorstep. Nothing else added.

Our employees will make the pizza we shoot.

Not an art director or model maker or food stylist. A Domino's employee trained to make pizzas the only way they know how: by hand.

We will not artificially manipulate the food we shoot.

No tweezers, no steam guns, no model knives cutting perfect perforations in the cheese. The only thing that will touch the pizzas we shoot is the pizza-maker's hands and a standard Domino's pizza cutter.

I think it will be interesting to see other food suppliers coming clean and making a promise about the reality of their images

Next it could be Anchor butter folk  telling us these were pantomime cows in their recent advert and not real cows



What do people think ?

Please post your comments below

You can't find a decent bit of graffiti when you need it - but is it art ?

One of the advantages of being a photographer without the millstone of a studio with four walls is the ability to find interesting places to shoot people

Grungy town & city centre locations are often popular as backdrops, this is particularly so of walls plastered with colourful graffiti.  Some people see graffiti as art (or at least sometimes as art) and there are many people who see it as undecorative vandalism that creates eyesores across the landscape.

I fit into the "sometimes" category

I've been out on one of my regular location scouting expeditions to check on the status of my local graffiti hotspots and it has all been a little disappointing so I though I'd share some images from my local area and also some across Europe where I have been shooting.

There is plenty of graffiti around my home town of Hitchin in North Hertfordshire

Some of it is rather dull tagging and I suspect this was done by someone other that Fuse who I believe is a big time London artist

and some of it just seems to spraying over the top of other artists work

You can come across something that has the makings of a photography location

But they never seem to go far enough

And some that look like they might be good if the next stage of colouring was completed

and some of it is a dead loss

and will possibly never go anywhere

There are some very popular locations with the local artists, unfortunately these locations are also popular with the clean-up teams from the local council or Network Rail

This is another popular location that shows a little promise sometimes

But then a walk down another popular backstreet location showed some new promise

and some recently completed work that if it managed to remain intact may well be appearing in one of my photoshoots very soon

It is also interesting to see graffiti with some sort of political message although in this case I'm not at all sure what the message is

and in some cases I don't agree with the message, copyright is definitely something I am in favour of to protect my work

Looking further afield, I saw some great graffiti when I was in Vienna Austria working. These images were all seen along the banks of the Danube in the city centre

This one must have been 10 feet tall so must have taken quite a lot of planning and perhaps a step ladder

Most of the Vienna work seems to contain a message

Some of the messages were quite clear

and some were a little too clear. I certainly looked out for what I was treading on after reading this (and wondering why it was in English rather than German)

and then back to England and my home town of Hitchin

This guinea pig stencilled image in the centre of Hitchin has always amused my son and I'm sure there is a message behind it too but from my experience with guinea pigs the message may well be Squeeek

If you'd like to talk to me about a photoshoot for yourself, your company or band please call me on 07866 719730 or email me on caterham@gmail.com

Also if you know any good graffiti locations please do leave a comment below