Mark Hadlow Photography

Southbank Bristol Arts Trail 2013

mhadlow — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:48:00 +0000

From the morning of Saturday 18th until the evening of Sunday 19th May, houses and venues around Southville, Bedminster and Ashton will be open for visitors to see a diverse range of Art, Music and Performance as part of the 2013 Southbank Bristol Arts Trail.

Southbank Bristol Arts was launched in October 2004 with the aim of organising and promoting the annual Arts Trail - and to be a driving force behind a whole range of arts and performance initiatives in the areas of Southville, Bedminster and Ashton.

Stourhead

mhadlow — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:43:58 +0000

Well what a beautiful weekend! The weather has been absolutely glorious! I’ve kept myself pretty occupied too. Yesterday I popped into Arnos Vale Cemetary, as I’d heard about the amazing work that has been done to restore it to it’s former glory. Now, some people may find it a little odd walking around a cemetary but Arnos Vale is beautiful. I did take a few photos but gave myself a bit of time off from editing, so haven’t got around to sorting them yet. Hopefully I will get chance to get them posted agt some point in the future.

Today, I took a trip to Stourhead, a National Trust owned landscape garden. As the sun was blazing, it was rather busy. That didn’t stop me from getting some photos that I’m pretty happy with. Along the route of the path around the garden there is a 250 year old grotto. Contained in this grotto is a sculpture of Neptune and a sculpture of the nymph, Ariadne. These are worth the visit alone. The view from inside the grotto is rather fetching too, as you can see from my photo.

Unfortunately, my numbers didn’t come up on the lottery this weekend, so back to work tomorrow.

Stalker Strikes Again!

mhadlow — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:33:28 +0000

This post really should have come before my previous post, as the photo was actually captured on Sunday. On my weekly jaunt to the Tobacco Factory, I stopped along the way to capture some images of Cheo’s work that I hadn’t already had chance to capture. As it happened, he was outside the old bingo hall on North Street, painting some new work with Hemper and Soker. This was the second time I’d met the man. On the previous occasion he’d had a few ciders and was signing copies of one of his books at the Upfest shop. The same evening, I had 2 of his canvasses bought for me as a birthday present. Am I drawing a picture of someone slightly obsessed with the man’s work? That’s me! I currently own 3 canvasses, 2 signed prints and various books (including a colouring book). Oh, and a keyring. Looking at his own work as ‘just a bit of drawing’ (his own words), Cheo’s really humble about what he does. I certainly couldn’t pick up a can or a pen and do what he does. Especially not to the level of quality that he always achieves. He’s not cocky about it at all. In fact, he is really nice bloke, always making time to speak to people that are interested in his work. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Take a look at his piece situated at Dean Lane skatepark. I know the way I’ve edited this picture makes his work really pop off the wall but even without the black and white masking, this piece really pops. If you like this piece check out his website, as well as his online store, where you can buy various items such as canvasses, prints, clothing, books, etc.

They’re Up!

mhadlow — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:05:27 +0000

Yesterday I took the day off to hang some of my framed prints (with a little help from Mich) at the Tobacco Factory in Bedminster, Bristol. Dave Bain, Art Director at the Tobacco Factory kindly allocated me some space for which to display my photographs, ready for the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail. The Trail doesn’t take place until later in May (the 18th and 19th to be precise) but I have had the amazing opportunity to get my images up early. I must also say thanks to Leanne Winter, who encouraged me to take part in the trail after seeing my work on my blog, as well as on Facebook. Leanne is a Bristol-based artist who, coincidentally is also exhibiting at the Tobacco Factory. More about Leanne and her work can be found on her website, leannewinter.co.uk. My own display, as well as Leanne’s display is pictured below.

Bristol Affordable Art Fair

mhadlow — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:49:19 +0000

This weekend sees Brunel’s Old Station play host to around 55 different galleries at Bristol’s Affordable Art Fair. Artwork is available from £40, right up to £4000. I must admit, I didn’t see any work for sale at £40 but it did start yesterday and may well have been the first items to sell. I went along mainly for the See No Evil stand, which was hosting work from various Bristol artists but found myself studying works that I wouldn’t normally take much notice of. The works that I really liked were very much out of my price range but nevertheless, I still enjoyed being able to view some magnificent art. I even got to see reknowned Bristol street artist, Jody painting live. From the 9th-15th May Jody is having a solo show at the Paintworks Event Space, Brislington, so get yourself along and view (and maybe even purchase) some amazing paintings. The exhibition is called Heart + Soul and all information is available on the See No Evil website.

The other photos in today’s post were captured purely by chance. With it being a Saturday it meant that we had to park a little further from Temple Meads than we’d planned. I didn’t mind this anyway but it turned out to be a definite positive. The fuel pumps pictured were located outside of a small yard, right in the middle of a residential area. It struck me as being an odd location for them and even though I’ve passed there many times, I didn’t have a clue that they were there. As you can see, they are full of character and rather than detract from the surrounding area, they actually add an awful lot. I’ve included an HDR version of one of the pumps, which was created with Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro 2. HDR is not normally something that I find particularly attractive. Mainly because I prefer my photos to look realistic. I think I can make an exception today, after being inspired by my visit to the fair.

Bristol Zoo

mhadlow — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:53:25 +0000

Another Sunday, another visit to Bristol Zoo. I feel as though I have neglected my annual membership since I renewed it, so made the short journey up, for a gentle wander around. The weather was good again today, so it would have been rude not to. It was surprisingly quiet, considering the weather was pretty good. I’m not knocking it! I managed to capture a few decent images. I’ve attached a couple to this post but more can be found in my Bristol Zoo gallery.

Bristol Italian AutoMoto Festival

mhadlow — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:49:54 +0000

Yesterday was the Bristol Italian AutoMoto Festival and what a day it turned out to be! After the recent cold weather, it was perfect timing that this event brought with it beautiful sunshine. Because of this I decided I would ride the bike into town. Mainly because it’s easier to park. Now, my Honda Hornet may not be your typical Italian bike but apparently it is Italian designed. Although, I love my bike, it didn’t quite fit in with all the Ducati’s, Moto Guzzi’s, Benelli’s, etc. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was rather busy, what with the good weather and the streets filled with old and new Italian cars and bikes. It’s a great event for Bristol and gives the locals the chance to get up close and personal with some truly beautiful supercars. As you can see, I’ve included something old and something new in this post but you can see plenty more examples of the cars on display over in my special Italian AutoMoto Festival gallery.

Bath

mhadlow — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:15:22 +0000

This afternoon I popped into Bath to do a bit of shopping and made the sensible decision to take my camera along. The architecture in Bath is pretty amazing. This is probably the reason for it’s massive number of tourists. With nearly 5 million visitors per year, even on a Sunday, Bath is hugely populated.

Silver Efex Pro 2

mhadlow — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:49:30 +0000

Thanks to this recent post by Leanne Cole, I have been playing around with the 15 day trial of Nik Software’s set of 6 plugins. After a few hours playing, I think I might make the leap and purchase the full product. In my humble opinion, it is worth the $149 just for Silver Efex and Color Efex. Take the 15 day trial yourself and see if you agree. Big thanks to Leanne for the head’s up. Oh, and visit her blog too. She’s got some great images over there.

Birthday Boy

mhadlow — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:07:49 +0000

Today was my nephew, Olly’s first birthday. I enjoy the little parties that are organised to celebrate the children’s birthdays. Not only because I like seeing them enjoy their special day, but also because it’s nice to catch up with the family members that I don’t see as often as I should. I also got to eat cake, when Rach finally gave in and cut it!

EOS 5D MK III, 50mm f/1.8 lens. ISO 100, f/4 at 1/60th of a second.