City Images (September 2020)

Earlier in the month I posted some photographs of the war memorial in Nottingham. In that post, I said that I had done a lot of walking looking for photographic inspiration which often means trying finding a subject where I can link images together in small panels - five or more related photographs rather than individual or standalone images. 

Inevitably, there are a number of false starts in this process where I manage one or two captures but it fail to progress or I don’t make the necessary links. These are a selection of some of those starts including one or two images that actually do standalone and say enough about the subject in one capture, like the Watkins Street image below and the acer leaves in the arboretum:

Watkin Street

Old and new development in bright afternoon sun:

Tinker's Leen

A diverted section of the the River Leen, I believe, running through old and new buildings: 

Dereliction

One of the old buildings along Tinker's Leen:

Outside Plumbing

Station Car Park

The newer cladding on the railway station car park:

Love Locks 

Love locks on Wilford Suspension Bridge:

Arboretum

Seasonal colours from the acers in Nottingham arboretum:

City Arboretum (September 2019)

Nottingham arboretum was the first public park to open in the city (11th May 1852) and is a fine example of Victorian landscaping. Originally designed to provide green spaces and open clean air for the residents of the city it has the same purpose today, more than 150 years later.

Visiting at the start of autumn provided a good opportunity to capture the subtle variations in colour before the peak of the season and these were some of the results:

Away from the arboretum are these shots of the Nottingham Contemporary building. It is a wonderful piece of city architecture and one that I often photograph, particularly when the sun highlights the gold panelling:

City Arboretum - Photography Week 17 (2016)

Tucked away in the corner of the city arboretum in Nottingham is the wonderful Chinese Bell Tower built in 1862. It commemorates the siege of Sebastopol (1859) during the Crimean War and Anglo-Chinese Opium Wars (1857-1861) (1,2).

Two captured canons from the Crimean War (and two locally made replicas) stand at each corner of the tower's platform. The bell of the tower (now a replica) was looted from Canton during the Opium Wars (1,2):

Elsewhere in the arboretum spring was in full force with blossoms and the orangey coloured acers (I don't what kind of acers they are. I made a rough ID by leaf shape only):

A couple of the tree trunks caught my eye. Firstly, the smaller mid ground tree mirroring the shape of the larger foreground tree. This is followed by a twisted trunk with a rich red-brown bark:

Last year I captured the blossom around the arboretum pond. I had another look this year but it didn't quite match up. I settled for this reflected tree:

At the entrance to the arboretum is a bronze bust of Samuel Morley. Morley (1809-1886) was an MP, hosiery manufacturer, and Principal of Nottingham School of Art. He founded Nottingham's first children library and devised pensions for his workers. He was also a supporter of universal suffrage (1,3):

Adjacent to arboretum is the listed school of art building which is now part of Nottingham Trent University. This is the view from the General Cemetery together with a black and white conversion of gravestones under a tree:

The university has invested heavily in their facilities including this building on the corner of Peel Street:

Traffic is restricted around the university with some tram only areas:

Finally, a small tree softens the regimented lines of the university's business school:

(1) http://www.experiencenottinghamshire.com/discover/nottingham-arboretum-p641471 . Nottingham City Council pamphlet, The Nottingham Arboretum Heritage Trail
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arboretum,_Nottingham
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morley_(MP)