Contrasts and characters: A day in the life of Bristol

November 07, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Our home city of Bristol is a place of contrasts. From the beautiful Georgian architecture of Clifton to the gritty neighbourhoods of South Bristol, no two areas are the same. The city is also jam packed with intriguing individuals and interesting characters.

It was these two features of the city that we wanted to capture when we travelled around Bristol snapping pictures to capture a day in its life.

We started the day on the roof of a multi-storey car park. Not the most glamorous of locations but it offered truly spectacular views of the city as the sun came up.

After that it was still early and we walked the quiet streets capturing shots of the river and its nearby dramatic buildings before heading south to Bedminster and Southville where we took in the unique retail wall adornments of East Street, the graffiti in a skate park and the wonderful Lucille's vintage caravan at the Tobacco Factory market.

During the day we also captured some shots of some of those characters I mentioned.

Near the harbour is the brilliant Nova Scotia pub, an historic 19th century public house that feels like it hasn't changed for 200 years. That's no bad thing though as it's packed with character. Always with an eye for detail, Virginia spotted a couple tucking into a fish supper. They were more than happy to let us take a few snaps in that wonderful location.

Bristol is a city synonymous with hot air balloons so imagine our delight when we stumbled across two employees of Bristol Balloons sat on their truck as balloons passed overhead. Like most friendly Bristolians they were more than happy to let us take a few photos.

The river is a huge part of Bristol life and we captured that by recording the adventures of some local fishermen.

Clifton Village is full of independent stores and one of our favourites is the tiny Aldo's Barber Shop. It has been trading for decades and Aldo himself, now in his 70s, was there to work some magic on my hair while Virginia caught it on camera.

A few shops down from Aldo's is Clifton Hardware, another shop from days gone by. Full floor to ceiling with all sorts of products, you can't walk in without thinking about 'four candles'. We got a great image of Clifton's answer to the Two Ronnies!

Another iconic store is Twentieth Century Flicks, a DVD rental outlet that has managed to survive the Netflix revolution. What these staff don't know about film isn't worth knowing! I talked Hollywood as Virginia did her thing.

We absolutely love Bristol but it's easy to ignore everything that it has to offer away from the obvious tourist attractions. Dedicating a day to capture its people and places was a brilliant way to remind ourselves of just what a city of contrasts we are proud to call our home.

Words: Dan
Images: Nina

Bristol -19 A magnificent dawn over Bristol was the start of an amazing day for Dan and I.

Bristol -31

A DIY bike with its trailer parked in front of Colston Hall attracted my attention

Walking around Bristol Harbour is a fantastic way to discover the industrial buildings by the water Bristol -65 I came across this ghost building while on a big walk around Bristol