I've mentioned in a previous blog post that I went to get my hair cut on Saturday, preparatory to going to Bedford to have photographs done by my friend John. We arranged to meet at 10 o'clock and I knew that it wouldn't take much more than 30 minutes to drive over, with the newly-opened stretch of road between the M1 and Bedford. How wrong could I be. I left what I thought was far too early, but it's was just as well that I did, because the A421 out of Milton Keynes and going towards the M1 was nose-to-tail because of the duelling work that is currently going on. It was somewhat frustrating, but there was very little I could do to speed my journey up. Vast H.G.V.'s and other road-users, moving at barely walking pace is not going to help anyone's patience at the best of times. Great swathes of the countryside is being shifted to make way for a second carriageway and I'm really shocked to see so much building going on along the side of the road. On the Wavendon side a lot of new houses and on the opposite side a lot of new warehousing. At this rate Milton Keynes will join up with Bedford. By the time I reached the traffic lights near the M1 I was able to turn left onto the long stretch of dual carriage way which takes you directly to Bedford and if you carry on along the Bedford by-pass you eventually come to the A1 at the Black Cat roundabout and on to the north of England, Peterborough and Stamford and, if you go through St Neots you lead to the road going on to Cambridge and Newmarket. As it was today, I wasn't going that far and came off onto the newer section of bypass which leads towards Bromham and so drove along Bromham Road into the centre of Bedford. I was making for Greyfriars, a road well known to me as I used to live along that very street, not far from the police station and bus station. I haven't been into the centre of Bedford for at least 8-9 years and the town has changed a good deal in that time, not least around the bus station. A couple of large blocks of flats have been demolished to make way for redevelopment, but this never took place and the space where those blocks used to be is now a ground level car park which is where I managed to park.
Then I had to find the building where we were to do the photo shoot. John gave me the number as 25 Greyfriars, but I wasn't sure exactly which door it was as the numbering along the street wasn't very clear. Some buildings have numbers and some don't, then you get the numbers out of sequence and 'A' or 'B' and other letters added which only adds to the confusion. I stood and waited because it wasn't 10 o'clock and the sent John a text. I'm never always sure that a text is sent of if it even reaches it's destination and if the mobile signal is poor whether it's doing anything. All in the lap of the gods, as they say.
John soon turned up and it appeared that I was outside the wrong building, but never mind. We went in. I can't work out what the shop that the studio was in does. Was it printing, graphics, or things photographic? Anyway, the room upstairs was where the photographic studio was situated, all set up with lighting and the white background paper which is so vital if you're doing serious portrait photography which is what I wanted as I didn't want a confusing background, just myself against a white background. We chatted for a bit. A lot of things to catch up on and then I got ready for the 'shoot.' John did some test shots, just to see what I thought. This is where digital photography is so good, you can see the results immediately, unlike traditional photography, where you have to wait for photographs to be developed and printed. With digital it's so easy to upload them to websites (which is what I'm intending doing for walk-on/extra agencies.)
After the shoot we went to a café which is new to me in Allhallows and behind the bus station, called Hallows. I had a cheese and tomato sandwich and a latte and we went upstairs to chat. We have lots of things in common, not the least being keen on doing walk-on and extra work as well as art, design and film-making and watching and having an interest in Doctor Who, Star Wars and other things.
When we had finished I was concerned that the parking ticket, which was for 2 hours, was about to expire, so we walked through the bus station towards the carpark and we went our separate ways. John is going to put the photos on a memory stick and post it off to me and it should be with me in a couple of days. It's no use them being on a CD-ROM, because my MacBook doesn't have a drive for these so a memory stick makes sense.
I drove out of Bedford through Bromham and towards Milton Keynes. When I got to the roundabout and what would have normally have been a left turn and fairly straightforward drive towards Milton Keynes, past Stagsden and other villages, I found there was a sign up saying the emotive words, 'Road Closed,' which was a bit of an annoyance, no advance warning further back to say that this was the case, so I had to drive on towards Northampton, with the idea of eventually going through Olney and back home that way. So, my journey was going to be somewhat circuitous, and when I got into Milton Keynes, going towards Willen and eventually into the centre of Milton Keynes, I found even more roads closed off. This is becoming rather annoying but, after another detour around the centre of Milton Keynes, I eventually got to Sainsbury's as I needed one or two items for my evening meal. But the journey out of Milton Keynes earlier in the day had been somewhat frustrating and so had the return journey.
Then I had to find the building where we were to do the photo shoot. John gave me the number as 25 Greyfriars, but I wasn't sure exactly which door it was as the numbering along the street wasn't very clear. Some buildings have numbers and some don't, then you get the numbers out of sequence and 'A' or 'B' and other letters added which only adds to the confusion. I stood and waited because it wasn't 10 o'clock and the sent John a text. I'm never always sure that a text is sent of if it even reaches it's destination and if the mobile signal is poor whether it's doing anything. All in the lap of the gods, as they say.
John soon turned up and it appeared that I was outside the wrong building, but never mind. We went in. I can't work out what the shop that the studio was in does. Was it printing, graphics, or things photographic? Anyway, the room upstairs was where the photographic studio was situated, all set up with lighting and the white background paper which is so vital if you're doing serious portrait photography which is what I wanted as I didn't want a confusing background, just myself against a white background. We chatted for a bit. A lot of things to catch up on and then I got ready for the 'shoot.' John did some test shots, just to see what I thought. This is where digital photography is so good, you can see the results immediately, unlike traditional photography, where you have to wait for photographs to be developed and printed. With digital it's so easy to upload them to websites (which is what I'm intending doing for walk-on/extra agencies.)
After the shoot we went to a café which is new to me in Allhallows and behind the bus station, called Hallows. I had a cheese and tomato sandwich and a latte and we went upstairs to chat. We have lots of things in common, not the least being keen on doing walk-on and extra work as well as art, design and film-making and watching and having an interest in Doctor Who, Star Wars and other things.
When we had finished I was concerned that the parking ticket, which was for 2 hours, was about to expire, so we walked through the bus station towards the carpark and we went our separate ways. John is going to put the photos on a memory stick and post it off to me and it should be with me in a couple of days. It's no use them being on a CD-ROM, because my MacBook doesn't have a drive for these so a memory stick makes sense.
I drove out of Bedford through Bromham and towards Milton Keynes. When I got to the roundabout and what would have normally have been a left turn and fairly straightforward drive towards Milton Keynes, past Stagsden and other villages, I found there was a sign up saying the emotive words, 'Road Closed,' which was a bit of an annoyance, no advance warning further back to say that this was the case, so I had to drive on towards Northampton, with the idea of eventually going through Olney and back home that way. So, my journey was going to be somewhat circuitous, and when I got into Milton Keynes, going towards Willen and eventually into the centre of Milton Keynes, I found even more roads closed off. This is becoming rather annoying but, after another detour around the centre of Milton Keynes, I eventually got to Sainsbury's as I needed one or two items for my evening meal. But the journey out of Milton Keynes earlier in the day had been somewhat frustrating and so had the return journey.
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