Search

Tag Archives: igersbirmingham

Categories blog

Back on the streets

by Damien Walmsley Posted on
New Street Station

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.

Watch that man – artwork by Annatomix
Follow the trail – poster outside Moor Street Station
The entrance to the new Primark Store
The jaunty angle gets the Rotunda into the picture
Link Street with the Rotunda in the background
The curse of the use of mobile phones is everywhere
Looking down Smallbrook Queensway
Framing the BT Tower
Categories blog

Aston Hall

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

It is always good when my diary has the free space for an Igersbirmingham instameet and I was lucky as this one coincided with Birmingham Heritage week.  The venue was Aston Hall a place that I had not visited since my daughters were young.  I expected changes to the layout of the Hall rooms but also, I was excited to visit the Long Gallery which is one of the major attractions of this grand house that is steeped in history.  I will not elaborate much further on the history of the Hall as it can all be found on the Birmingham Museums web site

http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/aston

This visit was organised by Igersbirmingham who once again excelled at ensuring we had a worthwhile time with our cameras.  We arrived an hour before the official opening and this allowed us the time to browse around the rooms and take photographs of the interesting places.  I brought along my fisheye lens as I was hoping that this would provide a different view of the Long Gallery.  I also worked with my Canon 5D and the 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses.  I do get very excited about taking part in photographic events such as this one and it takes a while for me to settle down and concentrate on achieving good pictures. There are many different views and the Long Gallery view with the fisheye came out how I imagined it which was fortunate.  However, I am always surprised on how others view my pictures and the Igersbirmingham team selected the picture of the chimneys on the roof for their blog on the meeting

http://www.igersbirmingham.co.uk/aston-hall-instameet

Many thanks to the Igers team of Beth, Fraser and Martin for their work and enthusiasm in running these Instameets

Aston Hall

Igersbirmingham ready to go and take some photographs.

Aston Hall welcomes it visitors

Such sharp teeth you have

Art work of a flat camera on a tripod

Some of the Characters in traditional costume

Staircases make for interesting photography

Out taking pictures

Thee Long Gallery through a fisheye

Sir Thomas Holte entertains

Detail from one of the rooms

Looking up

Chimneys and lots of them

Outside Gardens

Church of St Peter and St Paul (seen from Aston Hall)

Lovely Sky behind Aston Hall

 

Categories blog Uncategorised

Dancing in the City

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The Birmingham International Dance Festival comes to the City every two years. There is an extensive programme of dance related events.  It is the sixth festival but it was my first experience.  The meeting was organised by Igersbirmingham and when the announcement popped up on my Instagram account, I immediately signed up for it.  I was also unsure who would be there but the chatter on instagram told me that there would be a few seasoned photographers going to the event.  On a Saturday lunchtime in June, I met the other Instagrammers outside St Philip’s cathedral.  We got our wrist bands plus a voucher for a free coffee and cake and made our way to Victoria Square.  The stage was set outside the Council House and we stood around waiting for the first dance act.  After a few minutes, I became aware of four men in what I can only describe as balloon suits, starting to make their presence felt in the square.  They started pushing against people and then slowly they began to dance.  They were hilarious and with a mixture of humour and surreal movements began to do various routines.  Their body suits were filled with air and made them look ridiculous but this was part of the fun.  They interacted, danced and had fun.  They moved on to New street, bouncing and dancing with the shoppers.  I did not know whether to follow but looking at other photos from the event, I wish I did. The name of the dance troupe – Didier Théron

However, back at the stage there was another act starting about a boy and the moon.  The moon was on a trapeze circle and the boy was below.  The story told how he wished to get up to the moon and he also had a fight with a chimney sweep and a dragon!!!  Whatever the result it was a great spectacle and was very clever in its delivery.  The name of the this dance troupe – 2FacedDance

The next dance was by two women who were sat on their own bench.  They were Can Do Dance and it was a thoughtful and reflective piece of dancing that caught my imagination and I hope that I have caught the intense feelings and emotions that were shown by the dance moves.

It was not possible to stay around for the whole day and there were many more acts to follow.  I caught three of the acts and  I enjoyed the quality and standard on display. I will be on the front row when the festival comes around in two years time.

 

BIDF is produced by DanceXchange.

Categories blog

Botanical Gardens Instameet

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Path through the Gardens

When the notification came through, I immediately applied. A photographing evening at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens after-dark Christmas-lights experience was an exciting prospect. I was lucky to get one fo the 50 tickets as previous events sell out very quickly.  However, when the day came, the weather forecast was for one of the coldest nights of the year. I was starting to have second thoughts about going. I took the decision to wrap up warm, put my cameras in my back pack and set off for the gardens. When I got there, it was good to find friends from previous igersbirmingham Instameets.  The evening was going to be a good one.

The light show did not disappoint and the trees, paths and glasshouses were all part of a well choreographed light display. It is difficult taking photographs in the dark and also having to contend with the bright lights. The iPhone does well at producing a good picture whilst with modern cameras cranking up the ISO gives you lots of flexibility. I was fairly pleases with the results and provides good memories of the evening.

More details of the evening may be found on the IgersBirmingham Website.   The Botanical Gardens are well wroth a visit day or night 

Trees and lights

Illuminated paths

A multitude of colours

Like a candle in a tree

Having a chat in the Gardens

Stars at your feet

Snowflakes and Reindeer

Can you see the photographers in the light show

A path in the dark

A bit of blurring can be fun

Walking in Wonder

Christmas lanterns

Tunnel of light

 

Categories blog

Fort Dunlop

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The #igersbirmingham community find very interesting places to visit for photographic excursions.  Usually I find there are calendar clashes or I am away from home with work or family.  Fortunately when the Fort Dunlop instalment date was announced in August, I found that I could make it.  Fort Dunlop is an iconic building that overlooks the M6 in Birmingham.  I remember passing the building as we commuted down to London where I worked in the early eighties.  I also remember the large posters that adorned the building during its renovation. One of my bucket list items was to see the Fort Dunlop cows and take pictures of the famous sign.  Well all this came true on a Saturday night in August.  The views are wonderful and although we did not have a colourful sunset, there were ample opportunities for different photographs.  A wonderful night and thanks to the Igersbirmingham organisers and the photo community for their friendship during the evening.

The neon letters agains

Light trails M6

Birmingham panorama

On top of the world

Angry skies

Categories blog

Walking the Canals

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The canal system around Birmingham provides terrific photographic opportunities.  If you have the combination of a nice day and the time to wander along the canal network with your camera then there are few places that can match the views that you can find.  Here is an early Monday morning walk along the Canal Network.  Thank you to the West Midlands Branch of the Canal and River Trust for their work in maintaining our canal network.