There is a sense of achievement when BBC England select your picture to be included in the England’s Big Picture Gallery. This is the second one selected this year. It had quite a reaction on social media amassing lots of likes, if that is a good indication these days 🙂

This picture is taken during my exercise walk in Knowle, Solihull.  It had been raining the night before leaving some puddles on the path.  I bent down and dipped my iPhone into the puddle and got this reflection of the trees in front of me illuminated by the Sunrise. 

If you click on this link you are taken to the BBC England site where my picture is included for pictures taken from 30th March to 5th April

You will have gathered that one of my favourite places is the area under the arches of Snow Hill Station.  I usually get to wander around Birmingham early in the morning and I finds this time the most inspiration for photographing Birmingham.  I planned my visit by not getting off the train at Moor Street but waiting till Snow Hill.  I then used the Livery Sgreet entrance and made my way down to the arches.  The city council have installed lights that illuminate the subterranean space.

There are gated arches overlooking the canal where I presume they used to keep horses.  The iron gates are designed with bars that create geometric patterns as they are lit from the inside.  The light casts interesting shadows onto the wide tow path by the canal.  

A cyclist makes their way through the area which resembles a giant eye.

To access the area, there is a unique white iron staircase that leads down to the tow path.  It is very quiet there in the morning and in spite of the bright lights you do feel quite vulnerable.  There are the occasional runners and cyclists who make their way through the area.  There are also commuters starting to pass over the bridge that crosses the canal.  The area has graffiti and evidence of habitation by homeless people.  

On one wall is the word ORALE which someone explained to me is an exclamation in Spanish which is used to express approval or encouragement.  Very fitting for the scene that greets you in the morning.

The word ORALE

Down to Photography maters.  I had my normal camera set with me.  I carry my iPhone for the quick picture and also my Sony DSC-RX100M5 camera which is very quick.  I generally have my Sony on a program stetting to ensure that I get a quick picture.  I do use on manual when I am after slow motion pictures but the program feature is very useful.  For this morning, I also had my Canon 6D with a prime 40mm lens attached.  This provides a crisper picture and brings out more detail.  

Having said that the iPhone and Sony do produce some very good quality pictures in their own right.  The prime lens makes me move around and this makes me “see” different views and angles.  The Sony has a flip screen and this helps with those shots where I need to get down low.  Not only do my bones creak nowadays but the tow path floor is dirty and muddy.  I moved out to get a picture of the total reflections and it did give the appearance of a large eye. 

The larger picture of the area

A nice set of photographs which gave many people much enjoyment when seeing them on my social media channels.  Always worth a look and the post code is B3 1HA if you wish to visit yourself.

Finally the cover picture was selected for England’s Big Picture which was a nice conclusion of my early morning visit to this interesting place.

I am very pleased as it is my second feature this year on the BBC England’s Big Picture. This picture is of the Cube taken from the basement. It is an iconic picture and one taken by many people. It is a classic view of one of the lovely people by the artist Temper. I have done the picture many times but never featured it in my pictures. I was wandering around and decided that I would go down and take a picture as I passed by the Cube. It is a classic view of one of the lovely people by the artist Temper.

One of the lovely people (taken in 2017)

This is taken looking upwards to the sky from the basement level. There is no roof. I used my Sony RX100mk5 and when I saw the picture, I realised my hair had made an appearance. Also I was not quite central with the picture. I cropped and cloned out my hair but could do nothing with the off symmetry. On Instagram I noticed that BBCEngland liked the picture, so I sent it in. Low and behold my second picture submitted to the Big Picture this year was accepted.

England’s Big Picture: 27th May to 2nd June, 2019

I sent my picture of Chesterton Windmill into BBC England to see if it would be suitable for their theme ‘clearing the mind’. Each day, Englands Big Picture feature an interesting photograph shared with them from across England. The week that I sent my picture into the site, the BBC were celebrating the Get Creative Festival with a special gallery. I love this picture of the Windmill and I was very pleased to see it featured on the site. The link to the picture is a permanent one and it is also my second feature since running my photographic blog.

Get Creative Festival with England’s Big Picture. The them clearing the mind

I went to one of favourite spots for picture taking. Knowle Locks offers all the necessary ingredients. Water reflections, perfect setting sun, trees and a high vantage point. Add some clouds and you have the chance to take a great picture. I took all the gear, tripod, DSLR camera, filters and a range of filters. Whilst I was there I snapped a quick picture with my iPhone and tagged it with #englandsbigpicture on my twitter handle. Should I be surprised that the iPhone picture was the one that made the BBC website.

Here is the link to England’s Big Picture