I have been watching Cardiff develop at a considerable rate over the last five years or so and decided to photograph the city as I see it today, in order to remember it tomorrow. I love the way a photograph works as a visual historic document and how it can spark ones feelings, for good or bad when viewed.
I get very nerdy and thoughtful when I look at old pictures as I love exploring the past in such a way. So for my own reference to the past I have been making pictures (on my little 'domestic' digital camera) on my day-to-day travels in and around the city of Cardiff. They DO NOT serve as anything of intellectual nature, they are nothing more than an observation of time; a particular time in my life and the city I grew up in.
Hi Dave
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrific idea, I love it! It’s interesting to see young people that you’ve watched grow up suddenly turn into adults and have great ideas, opinions, thoughts and comments about the world we live in today, good on you.
At the risk of sounding like every Dad on the planet, your comments about the significant change you’ve witnessed taking place over the last 5 years made me chuckle and then think about my experience of the changes Cardiff has undergone. When I started my working life it was as a “goods inwards boy”. As the title suggests my job was to accept deliveries into the stock area and keep records of said deliveries.
The company I worked for, “Brown Brothers”, were sited in a building in Frederick Street, which is still there of course. This was July 1977 when I was 16 (seems like forever ago) and at that time there was a lot of talk about the plans to develop the whole of the Town Centre/ Docks/ Bay Area, but it was just that, talk.
Across the road from the building Brown Brothers were in (in the direction of the Hayes) was a large department store and then one day out of the blue, they started to knock it down! When the place was flattened it was great because I could walk across the site to get my sausage sarnies from the Hayes island snack bar, but that aside I didn’t really have any idea why they were knocking it down.
As you will probably have figured out by now, this was the site for the then very new St Davids centre. This was the first really significant change for Cardiff Town Centre and since then, having worked in and around that area for many years, I have seen huge changes to the docks, the bay, St Mary Street, etc, etc.
So to finish where I started really, I think it’s a great idea and keep it going because in time this will be something of significance if only to you and any followers still alive!