Chinese New Year, Chinatown, Birmingham, January 2023

Venturing into China Town Birmingham to celebrate the Chinese New Year was a colourful affair. Hurst Street was set up with a stage and there were a number of market stalls set up along the street. The main action when I arrived was down in the Arcadian where the dragon dancers were in residence. The dancers put on a great show and these are a few pictures of the costumes and people that were in Chinatown to celebrate the New Year.

Chinese New Year, New Street Station, Birmingham, January 2023
New Year Blossom for Chinese New Year in Birmingham New Street Station
Chinese New Year, Chinatown, Birmingham, January 2023
Getting close to the action in the Arcadia
Chinese New Year, Chinatown, Birmingham, January 2023
Getting lost in the action. Picture Credit – Lena Mac from IgersbirminghamUK

Birmingham by Annatomix

As you will have seen I have been stopping off in Birmingham on my way to work and taking pictures of the City.  There is a real opportunity to get some pictures of the place and often highlight the lockdown with the lack of people.  Most of the pictures shown have one or two people in them.  They are also bleak.  A solitary Christmas tree stands where the German market used to be.  A lone masked figure walks through China Town. Sunrises on the roof of deserted car parks.  As you look through the places then they will throw up different emotions and thoughts.  It has been difficult for many people and we will remember what this year is like for many years to come.  Meanwhile I sometimes feel guilty being a voyeur using the camera as an indiscrete people watcher.  Recording the events for my own pleasure.  Take a look through these pictures and see what you think.

I will be covering
Central business District / Snow Hill Tram station,
New Street Station/Grand Central
Roof of Snow Hill station
The Arcadian/China Town

Central business District / Snow Hill Tram station

Cornwall street Lockdown#2
Cornwall street Lockdown#2
Church Square Lockdown#2
Church Square Lockdown#2
Lockdown#2

What is eerie about the Lockdown#2 is the lack of people commuting into the city.  This is most evident in the business district.  There are few people on the streets and the offices are empty except for the security people on the front desk.  On a busy morning prelockdown, there would be people striding around the pavements goint to their office workplace.  Coffee shops would be busy, and the train and buses would stop and have to wait for some time to disgorge their passengers. Now it is much quieter. I have my iPhone and Canon 5D.  With the latter, it is big and therefore difficult to hide.  A man with a big camera, is a phrase someone said about me.  I do worry about being mugged for the camera..  The iPhone is fine, but it does try and correct low light settings and I like the control the manual settings give me.  Therefore it is often a mixture of both.

New Street Station/Grand Central

Welcome to New Street
Welcome to New Street
New Street looking empty
New Street looking empty
Around New Street and. feel sorry for the taxi drivers
Around New Street and. feel sorry for the taxi drivers
Annatomix art work graces the entrance to Grand Central
Annatomix art work graces the entrance to Grand Central
A more colourful approach Lockdown#2
New Street Station
New Street Station looking empty.

The station opens many opportunities for photographs but when there are few people around then it is difficult to be inconspicuous with your camera.  Therefore, in the station, I used by iPhone whilst outside my camera felt more comfortable.  The steps up to the station with the mirrored ceiling always create wonderful reflections.  There was a network rail person working occasionally looking out of a small window at the foot of the stairs.  I caught a picture of him although he is a little out of focus.  My nerves on taking the picture!  Hope you enjoy the pictures especially those of my favourite street artist, Annatomix.  A fellow photographer Elliot brown had passed by the day before, so I retraced his steps and found the place deserted.  Pictures that normally had people distracting you were possible.  So taking pictures of Birmingham have been easier under lockdown.

Roof of Snow Hill station

Sunrise roof of Snow Hill Car Park
Sunrise roof of Snow Hill Car Park
The view over Snow Hill platform
The view over Snow Hill platform
Reflections in a puddle of the BT tower
Reflections in a puddle of the BT tower
The moon still over St Paul's Church
The moon still over St Paul’s Church
Looking down Cornwall Street
Looking down Cornwall Street
Light Trails down Edmund Street
Light Trails down Edmund Street

An old favourite – if the weather is good and for this particular morning a great sunrise was on its way.  There was one car parked and the whole place deserted.  The skyscrapers of Snow Hill 1, 2 and 3 lean in over the car park.  It had been raining the night before and there were plenty of puddles for reflections.  It was dawn so you could look down Cornwall street with the pretty lights or down or do the light trials down Edmund street.  Both favourite locations for Birmingham Photographers since the car park was open.  A check on the BT Tower and yes St Paul’s Spire is still there with a full moon overlooking it.  The trains from Kidderminster arrive on their way to London and the Trams move by the Show hill office blocks. 

The Arcadian/China Town

Hurst Street on a rainy morning
Hurst Street on a rainy morning
Streetphotography in Chinatown
Streetphotography in Chinatown
Looking up Hurst Street
Looking up Hurst Street
A wet day in Chinatown
A wet day in Chinatown
These mopeds get everywhere
These mopeds get everywhere

The last morning of Lockdown#2 was a trip to the Arcadian Centre. I did want to see the Christmas tree that had a small cycling tunnel though its centre. When I made my way to the tree which is outside the Hippodrome, I saw that someone was sleeping underneath the tree. Not only that on closer inspection as my pictures show it was a homeless person dependent upon a wheel chair to get around. This shocked me and you may say this is a now a normal occurrence yet when you stumble across it, it still has the power to shock. I moved onto the Arcadian centre and the rain was persistent. The place was very quiet with few people moving around. I knelt down to do some puddle reflection pictures and happened to catch a young lad walking through the Chinatown passageway. The iPhone was all I used as it was so wet. A miserable end to Lockdown#2 but then again what do you expect from the year of 2020.

Homelessness during Lockdown#2
Homelessness during Lockdown#2

If you like these lockdown#2 photographs then the rest of the set are listed below
1. Birmingham Lockdown #2 – a photographic journey of the first morning
2. Birmingham Lockdown #2 – a visit to the Mailbox
3. Birmingham Lockdown #2 – New Street Art in Digbeth

or compare my photographs to those of the BirminghamLive website
Pictured: Eerie Birmingham on the first day of the second national lockdown