This is a great community who are active in many different parts of Birmingham life. It is about celebrating inspired people and the success of different communities in the Birmingham area. One are of celebration is in photography. The good people of Birmingham have featured 10 of my best photographs as portrayed on their web site
It is interesting to me what other people like with my photographs. All the pictures taken were featured on Twitter @birminghamweare and received numerous likes.
The canal through Knowle is one of my favourite places to visit. If it looks as if the light will be good then I look for the opportunity to visit. There are always boats on the canal and the sun sets nicely on the top of Knowle locks. There are some water reeds at the top lock and for a few minutes as the sun sets, the light catches them nicely. I used my Canon 100-400mm lens to save me having to cross over the lock with all my camera equipment. Once that picture was done then I settled back to catch the sunset over the water. I always enjoy the picture taking here and also used my Big Stopper to see if that would give a nice effect.
Taking concert pictures is not easy for me as I am not as young as I used to be and do not like being squashed at the front of the concert. The chance to take some close up pictures came when I went to see Steve Gunn, a guitarist and songwriter, who is prolific songwriter. Steve’s style is influenced by blues, folk and rock and he is a pretty good guitarist as well.
The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham is an intimate venue and there is the ability to move through the audience and get very close to the artist. I had my Sony RX100v5 camera on manual settings with a shutter speed of 1/200, aperture f/2.8 and ISO 2000. Getting close and taking the pictures meant that the lighting was a little easier to control. I expect I could have changed the settings a bit more but I am generally pleased with the results. Also we got a selfie with the man himself after the concert.
The concert had some great music. He was good to listen to and he is an excellent guitarist. The small venue meant that the sound was good and the different parts of the band came together well\\. The guys sorting out the sound were not so happy but it was a good night all round.
It is busy at work and so much of my photography is confined to the walks in town between the train and bus connections early in the morning. Some are in the afternoon depending on the timing. I will usually vary my bus stops so that I can take in different walks. This leads to a variety of photographs. One building that has taken up a prominent feature of the cityscape is the new Primark building. The architecture is a touch brutal and is not an easy place to photograph. Street art is always changing and the David Bowie mural on Dudley St by Annatomix is very distinctive. Her work is always good and there are several murals strategically placed around the city.
A misty start is a great opportunity for photography. The last Saturday in March provided both the sunrise and the mist so I headed it out. I planned to go to the canals but passing through Packwood House, the combination of the sun and mist caught my eye. I stopped and started to take pictures. The line up of trees leading away from the house provided some good pictures. A couple of early morning walkers provided suitable inclusions in the pictures that I took.
I also discovered the “Welly Walk” around the grounds. By this time the mist was disappearing but there were still photographs to be taken. One of the sun streaming through the trees, a spiders web and some lambs taken in the sun. It was a magical hour of photographing in ideal conditions.
It is a while since we visited Kenilworth Castle. Taking a chance on the weather we went for a visit. It was a windy day and the grandchildren are good to start with but then got fractious. So as an amateur photographer you have to adapt to the conditions and the emotions of the day. I got some good pictures of the family running around the castle grounds before they went in for a coffee. It gave me the chance to explore the new attraction at the castle, Leicester’s Tower. English Heritage have built a staircase and viewing platforms on each floor in the tower. They platforms provide excellent views of the castle and the surrounding Warwickshire countryside. I will return when the weather improves and linger for more shots in the Elizabethan garden and the grounds.
I have occasional meetings in London and I always plan to get down early and plan a photographic walk. I have never been to Little Venice so I jumped onto the tube and made it to Warwick Avenue. From here I got on the canal. It was a beautiful morning and the light was just pouring out of the sky. Reminds me of one of my favourite songs “The light pours out of me” by Magazine. There was a wonderful haze around the canals. I had my wide angled lens with me which I find pulls in all of the scene into the camera. I moved through Little Venice into the Paddington branch where many people where moving around on their way to work.
There was plenty of opportunities to take pictures where water, people and sun interacted. When I got back home, I immediately converted them into black and white and found that I had captured much more than I had hoped. I will be back to visit again in the future.
My photograph of the winter lights festival in Reykjavik that was taken on my visit to Iceland has featured in the Rove.me travel web site. Although I did not get to see the Northern lights, the Winter lights festival more than made up for it. Enjoy my picture and visit in person to photograph the experience. Thank you to Rove.me for the feature. Here are a few more of my travel photographs from Iceland for you to enjoy.
My recollections of Riyadh from my first visit in 1996 were hazy. I remember it being very hot with many white buildings. Here I was back in Riyadh for a second time (third to Saudi Arabia). What I first noticed is that there is great deal more traffic around than before. It is difficult to get a feel for the city initially and my first morning and afternoon were taken up with meetings. The fun started at lunchtime and then re-continued at dinner as I soon discovered that the Saudis love their food. The evening food was served on the floor which was an experience especially for my knees which were very stiff when I stood up.
Day two of the trip was a recharging of batteries and after early morning meetings, it was catch up in the hotel. Passing the time of day and ceiling was worth photographing as the picture shows
Both Universities that I visited on day three of the trip were situated in large expansive campuses. King Saud is a well established university and the architecture is impressive. Long outside corridors which are so long that there are mini-mokes available to assist you. Luckily the weather was reasonable and cool. In fact later that day a dust storm hit the city and part of the time it was not advisable to have the camera out. Princess Nour University is a female only campus and again so vast that a monorail is provided for the female students to access all the departments. The hospital was again large (do you find there is a common theme here) and some of the architecture was just asking to be photographed.
I have started to take my wide angle lens out with me when wandering around Birmingham. I usually do this on a Wednesday morning as I have a clinic in the City Centre. I plan different routes around the city but today I went for a route from Snow Hill to Brindley Place. Along the way I took several pictures and at around 7.30am arrived at the NIA. The Iron bridge over the canal is a photogenic leading line and I started experimenting. It was then that a noticed that a colourful sunrise was starting to happen. I overcame the lack of tripod by using the canal wall. The manual settings of the camera were as follows shutter speed 1/13, aperture f/20 and ISO 400. I use live view to check the scene. I also ensured that I focused part way into the picture to find the hyperfocal length thus ensuring all would be in focus. I took a few more pictures and then went to one of my favourite coffee houses Tom’s dinner in the Mailbox. Browsing through the pictures and this one caught my eye. Processing is a mixture of Lightroom – up the exposure, drop the highlights, touch the shadows and a heavy vignette. I use a LUT (Lookup Table) add on to bring out the cinematic effect. Then into Photoshop where I use an unsharp mask followed by adjustment of the levels as the final adjustments. The picture looks good and I have also included some of the other pictures that were taken on my walk.
