Watt On Earth

This has been rusting away on the side of a bridge for years.

I  have no idea  how long it has been attached to the wall, but these days it seems to have a new use as an ash tray.

Brutal Architecture

No one can really say that this is great architecture. It's part of the Broad Marsh shopping centre, and it certainly is ugly.

Even if it is not a part that is easily seen from the street, I think they should still have taken a bit more care with it. Maybe if they mended the windows thinks might look better.  But there are plans for the whole shopping centre to be redeveloped, so maybe it will happen then.

Brian

A bit of a fun photo today, as my Brian the Robot finally arrived.

I ordered him in March, when I bought some house insurance through Confused Dot Com, the online price checker.

It's a good toy as it has it can be posed, talks and moves through friction power.

We also have a couple of meerkats as well, that we got for other insurances through Compare The Market Dot Com.

Letting The Light In

There's some more demolition work now taking place in the city centre.

This is down near the Broadmarsh shopping centre and involves some old buildings and the remains of some Victorian railway arches.

Some people, including myself think this is a great shame, as it's about the last remaining arches in town, and should be saved for prosterity.

You may be wondering why my photo looks a little strange. It's because I took it with one of the art filters which are on my OMD. Diorama, I think its called, and makes things look miniature. I don't often use them, as I prefer to mess around in Lightroom & Alien Skin, but I don't think it looks too bad.

That Uniform Look

Couldn't help taking a photo or two of these lovely ladies that were waiting at Nottingham Railway Station.

The fact that they were dressed almost the same caught my attention, and the fact that they were standing with identical poses.

NG Phone Home

Just happen to come across another one of those apprentice sculptures, that keep appearing across the city centre.

This one is in the Lace Market, and is obviously a phone box. But not just any phone box, but one with a real Notts connection.

For a start there are a couple of arrows stuck in the top, which were obviously fired by the one and only Robin Hood.

I'm Not From London is a Nottingham based music promotion company that put on local gigs featuring local artists.

There are also a number of other local references on the posters inside; Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, LeftLion magazine etc.

Chop Suey

Well it's gone. The Pagoda is no more.

Above is the scene on Wednesday, below, how it is today. Now just a pile of bricks and rubble.

I shall continue to watch what is happening to the site and to try and find out what is going to be built in its place.

Rest U Rant

Not being at work for the last week, I didn't get to visit the city centre at all, so I was wondering what state the old Pagoda Chinese restaurant would be in, now I know that it is being demolished.

So at lunchtime I went to have a look and see if much work had taken place during my time away. Well, as you can see they have certainly raised the roof. Well knocked it down actually!

It's interesting to see that they used the first floor as the kitchen, and I think there are a couple of dumb waiters there, so it saves walking up and down stairs.

I bet it will be fully demolished by the end of the week. Then it will be interesting to see what they build in its place. Be really funny if it is going to be another Chinese restaurant!

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Well the bulldozers have moved in to knock down one of Beeston's most well loved stores, Wilkinson's; or Wilko's as is affectionately known as.

The shop actually closed in April last year, and has stood empty ever since. Even though it could have remained open for at least a year.

I reported the closure at the time, and here is the LINK to the story.

Below is how the store looked before the death knell was finally rung.

Still Life

Spotted these three old cameras on a high shelf in the Lion pub in Basford.

I have no idea if they work or not, but seems a shame that they are up there gathering dusk, while they could be filled with a roll of film and taken out and used. After all that is what photography is all about.

Still, saying that, since I got my Olympus OMD last year, I've hardly touched my Nikon D3s, and it sits lonely in the cupboard surrounded by expensive lenses.

i-phone photography

Besides taking photos almost everyday with my wonderful Olympus OMD, I take photos with my mobile phone, especially if I am wanting to put something on Twitter.

Here's a small selection of some of my pictures, after I downloaded them from my phone and into Lightroom. By the way the effects are on my phone and not part of Lightroom.

The top picture is of The Castle pub and Fothergills restaurant, that are situated opposite the castle.

I came across this bottle of sauce at a local restaurant called Las Iguanas. I went there the other day for a goodbye lunch for a couple of people that were leaving the place that I used to work at.

I took this photo for a 'where is it' quiz on Twitter. Most people thought it was near the canal. But it is in fact close to the Broad Marsh shopping centre.

And finally here's a shot of the path that runs down the side of St Mary's Church in the Lace Market. I've tried to give the photo a vintage look, as the area is full of Victorian buildings.

Pause For Thought

I'd just like to thank those that left messages yesterday regarding the future of this blog. I will be reviewing the responses over the weekend and considering what to do.

In the meantime, here's a shot of local model Carla, who I shot last night, in a friend's garden.

Bricking It

I spent some time this afternoon sorting, cleaning and stacking hundreds of bricks that were removed from the house earlier in the week.

The plasterer came yesterday and spent all day giving us a new ceiling, filling in the gap between the two walls and other parts of the two rooms, that now are beginning to look like one.

I hope to have a couple of days off this week so I can paint the ceiling and varnish the floor. Just have to remember to use the pots the right way round and do the ceiling first!

The house is still in a topsy turvy state, as we've tried to cram six rooms full of stuff into four. We will be getting rid of some stuff either through Ebay or down to the charity shop. Some will be used in our new studio as props etc.

It's going to be a long journey, but at least the worst is over with. I'm not sure what I am going to be doing with these bricks yet. But they always come in handy for a garden project or two.

Shadow On My Wall

Not a lot to say about this photo. A wall, a tree and a great shadow. What more do you want?

I Can See Clearly Now

A quick update as to the progress of the demolition of the old Odeon cinema.

The demolition workers have had a final push and have removed the front of the building over the past few days.

They put fencing up to stop any debris falling onto the pavement. But there are gaps, and so I popped my camera through and took a few shots.

You can now see all the way through to Maid Marian Way. Something that no one has been able to do since the 1930s. So this is could be quite an historic documentary photograph in a few years time. And you saw it here first.

Going, Going, Gone

Well, we are almost there. Practically the whole of the former Odeon cinema has now disappeared. All you can see is a big pile of brick dust.

The front is the next to go. As I walked by tonight, I could see that the scaffolding has been erected, ready for the men to begin work on removing the facade over the next few days. They will have to be careful, as a lot of people walk by and it is on a bus route.

Window Shopping

Stewart has come up with this week's Headbanger theme of 'shop window'.

Now I work in the city centre of Nottingham, so have plenty of shop windows to look at during my daily stroll around town.

So what to photograph? A fashion display, food or even Christmas decorations. Yes, I saw Santa Claus standing in one store window.

But of course I like to be different, and was planning on showing this sign that I saw at a sports shop.

But in the end I went for this night shot of a statue of Robin Hood in a fancy furniture store on Castle Boulevard. Well it's classic Nottingham, isn't it.

Don't forget to pop along to the other pages and see how the team have interpreted the theme.

Today's photo shows the destruction of the old Odeon gathering pace. I managed to get this shot of one of the main girders crashing to the ground in a pile of eighty year old dust. It made a very loud noise as it dropped the twenty feet or so. Ideally I should have filmed it, as it was an historic moment.

The Last Picture Show

Well back to work today, after having a week off. My first port of call at lunchtime was to visit the site of the old Odeon cinema and see how the demolition is going.

Well I was surprised in two ways. Firstly that the both ends of the building were still up, and secondly, that they had cleared nearly all the middle away and that you can now see the garden of the Bromly House private library.

I don't know how long the demolition is goin g to take, but I shall be visiting it at regular intervals and reporting back with photos.

Seen Better Days

Gail and I have been off work this week. We haven't gone away at all. We're having what they call a 'staycation'. Staying at home and trying to have a bit of a spring clean. Or is that an Autumn clean, as it's October?

Besides going to the alternative fashion and burlesque show on Monday, I haven't really taken any photos while being away from the office.

This photo of a decaying and rusting door, is one from the archive. Not very old; Saturday actually. I saw it wen I went to the art exhibition in Chilwell. It wasn't part of the exhibition, but part of the Barton's building that houses it.

Castle View

I was in the city centre a bit longer tonight as I was doing some paid market research. Beer tasting actually. Nice work when I can get it!

So it was beginning to get dark when I left the bar where the market research was taking place. It had been raining too, so the sky was cloudy and the ground wet.

I thought the castle gatehouse looked quite inviting to take a photo of. Especially with the light glowing from the little window. Instead of the standard touristy shot, I went for a very low artistic view, with the camera resting on the ground.