Cheltenham

Having already photographed at Pilley Bridge, I chose a pretty hurrendous day to go out and photograph other locations in Cheltenham that were affected by the air raid on December 11th 1940. The hurrendous weather was not wished for, it was sunny when I started. It was sunny again as I finished. I tried to mix things up a  bit as I shot, very aware that the photographs I had taken in Bristol were quite boring. Whilst I am aware the style of photographs don't currently work together as a set for a story, these are the ones I am most pleased with.

This shot I would like to revisit, capture more directly and on a brighter day perhaps.

This shot is my favourite out of all those I have produced so far.

I am currently undecided as to whether or not I would like to crop out the houses on the left hand side.

I think the latter two photographs work the strongest regarding photographing roads. They are simple and they keep out the distractions of the traffic. The inclusion of the sky is also quite important, given that the bombs would have been dropped from above.

Bristol

I visited the City of Bristol to have a look at some of the places that were bombed. Seeing as Bristol took a quite a battering during the Second World War I opted to stick the roads that were struck during the first raid on the city. I can return another time to photograph locations that were effected later on.

The photographs that I got were, for the most part, boring street photographs of shoppers in the centre. This is because the areas have been rebuilt and made to fit the modern demand with shopping centres. However, I was lucky enough for some places to still be quite historic and quieter - allowing for better photograph options.

St. Nicholas Street.

Bristol Temple Meads Station.

Castle Park

Not a bomb location, but taken from one. High Street.

Again, not a bomb location but the area was very picturesque.

I do intend to go back and photograph other locations in the city that were affected by air raids later on. The photographs shot on this visit were only of the first, very central raid. Some of the later bombings also have better stories attached to them.

Pilley Bridge

Pilley Bridge was once part of the Great Western Trainline running through Cheltenham. Now it has been turned in to a nature reserve. I visited the area to photograph a bridge that was bombed during WWII. 

The bridge was bombed on December 11th 1940. It was the last war damaged bridge to be repaired, over ten years later in 1954. Later, trains stopped running the route in 1964 following the Beeching Reports recommendations.