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Author Archives: Damien Walmsley

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Up close in Knowle

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

I like taking pictures as you gather and I needed some inspiration to make the daily exercise more interesting. When the Visit Knowle site published a close up of one of the buildings in Knowle then I knew this was an avenue I could explore. So we have a series of images below all taken in the village of Knowle near Solihull. I hope you like them and you might even want to guess what some of them are if they are not that obvious. The lesson learnt from photography is always try and look at everyday objects with a different eye. You will be surprised what you get to see. There are examples of textures, materials, architecture and decay. All give a different but also uplifting views of my home village. The pictures are here to provide some of the character old and new of the village. I also found a reflection picture of the local church which was pleasing.

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Stars in the Sky

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

There are many photography projects to do during the Lockdown and Star Trails is one that I fancied doing. I have an App on my phone called Star Walk and it shows the sky at night. There are many stars out there but with light pollution is not possible to get particularly good images. I have always liked seeing the stars and wondered if there was a simple project to get started in this area. Star trails looked just what I needed. Using a long exposure technique it is possible to record the moving stars. I read my Digital Photographer magazine and also looked over several articles on the web. I discovered that my Canon 5D had an auto setting that would continuously take pictures. So I set up the camera on a tripod and using the Star Walk App located Polaris the North Star. I took my wide angle lens Canon EF 16-33 mm and used the largest aperture of f/4. The focus was set at infinity. The camera was pointed directly towards Polaris and the neighbour’s house and my Magnolia tree were used to frame the picture. The exposure was set at 30 seconds. Also the auto was set to take a picture every 30 seconds. There were a few false starts and then once I was happy, I let the camera run on automatically. Then 167 pictures later it was time to go to sleep so I processed all the pictures in the morning in a program called StarstaX which blends them together. I learnt a new synchronisation technique in Lightroom as well. The final picture was very impressive although there is still a lot of light pollution around as the trails should be more intense. The picture got a lot of interest on Social media and I was pleased with the final result. I will have to go out again and do some more picture taken of the stars!

Categories blog

Flowers in the Garden

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

During the weeks of lockdown, the garden flowers and blossom start to look very attractive objects to photograph. luckily I have my macro 100mm and ring flash to take pictures. I have also experimented with different views of the flowers from the more traditional look to close up macro. I have also looked at different lighting approaches. Here are a few of my pictures taken in my garden during April 2020 lockdown.

Dragon head flowers
This was a stacked picture of 6 photographs
Star Tulip
Magnolia Blossom
The colour purple
Dandelion close up
….but the flowers have a limited life
Categories blog

One walk a day

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

During the lockdown for the Corona Virus, the government allow one exercise a day. In my case this is a one hour walk which I take early in the morning. Since the clocks went forward, I have been getting up at 6am and leaving the house in time for the sunrise. As the sun rises earlier each day, there will be a time that I just go for a lie in! I have several walks around Knowle and Dorridge and the trick is to keep making them interesting. This is one I took on Good Friday morning. I walked down to Knowle Park and then onto the village, past the Scout Hut to the Church. I made my way to Kixley lane as at the end I am able to reach a bridge over the canal which gives good views of the waterway.

Kixley Lane sunrise
Two plane trails in tandem

I was rather pleased to see a canal boat there but it does make me wander if these boats are under lockdown as I don’t remember the boat being there 2 weeks ago. It still gives a great focus point for taking pictures of the canal. The park was also misty and with the sunrise, there was the opportunity for some lovely colours.

Canal boat in isolation
I am not going on the towpath as it will be difficult to self isolate

It will be a shame if the government choose to stop the one hours exercise in the future and so I will be doing my best to keep walking until that day comes.

My trusty walking companion
Categories blog Uncategorised

Bubbles

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Keeping motivated under a lockdown does mean that you are ready to try out new ideas. I have always been fascinated by oil and water pictures so with time on my hands I decided to give it a go. What you need is a macro lens and off camera flash. Then to get a big bowl of water on top of some colourful paper or fabric. Set up the camera using a tripod so that is is over the surface of the water. Start dropping in some Olive Oil and/or washing liquid. Then start taking pictures. Here is a nice link from PhotoCrowd
https://www.photocrowd.com/…/158-11-tips-creating…/

There is still some work to do after taking the pictures and opening up Lightroom initially the pictures will look a bit dull. Look at that histogram and ensure you have a good distribution and that you use the highlight and shadows sliders wisely. The exposure should be adjusted and then you may need to push the saturation up to around 40 points on the scale. Then after some cropping of the picture a few of the final results are shown here. This is definitely a project that I will be going back to at a later date.

Categories blog

Peaceful pictures

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

With the lockdown now on for 2 weeks many people are finding it difficult to keep motivated. I have been taking my camera or using my iPhone camera to take pictures on my early morning walks. I initially ventured on the canals but realised that was not such a good idea as it is difficult to stay 2 metres apart if you meet someone on the towpath. I am now staying to the roads or in open spaces. Here are a few pictures to help lift the spirits.

On the canal
In the park
The Duck Pond
On the canal
Dorridge Wood
Categories blog

England’s Big Picture 03/2020

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

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

Categories blog

Chase the Rainbow

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

There is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  It is the feel good factor that thousands of children across the country have drawn a rainbow and put in their front windows.  Other children have drawn the rainbows in chalk and they brighten up the pathways outside houses.  These are a few examples from our village of Knowle near Solihull.  Chasing the rainbow brings much hope to people and is a way of connecting everyone through this terrible crisis.

Categories blog

Lockdown begins

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The Corona Virus has rapidly engulfed us. Pubs, bars, restaurants and Gyms were closed on Friday (20th March) with full lockdown announced by the Prime Minister on Sunday (22nd March). We can go out for one form of exercise, food shopping and essential medication. I have got into a routine of going for a walk just before the sun rises and I have put down a selection of pictures from Knowle village and the places I walk around in the morning. These are very strange days as you will see.

DESERTED STREETS

The main High Street in Knowle Village is deserted on a Saturday Morning
More examples of Knowle High Street looking deserted on a Saturday morning

CLOSED

Restaurants, Bars and Shops are closed except for the convenience store

Loch Fyne is boarded up
Places have Closed signs or are just not open

SHOPPING

If you go shopping then you must keep your distance and this is done by yellow crosses on the floor.

Keep your distance
It is so reassuring to see the supermarket deliveries being made.
Eric Lyons the butchers are doing home deliveries which is a much safer option.

STAY AT HOME

By far the most sensible and safest activity that you should practice is Stay at home. Here Sandy shows how it is done.

Categories blog

The Piccadilly Arcade

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The Piccadilly Arcade is part of my photographic series of arcades in Birmingham. I have already done the GWA (Great Western Arcade) and I thought it would be a good idea to follow this up with the Piccadilly Arcade.

  • The ceiling catches the eye
  • Moving through the arcade
Mother’s Day and a few days is a long time.
Life goes on for the moment

What I wanted to achieve was a snapshot of life in the arcade. Little was I to realise that life was going to change drastically later on that week. These photographs were taken on Monday 16th March and publishing on Saturday 21st March the world has been changed by Corona Virus. However please enjoy these pictures and let’s hope for normal service as soon as possible.

walking the dog
winged horses
looking down
coat of arms
A window with some interesting photographic art

Starting off this photographic journey I decided to wander in from the New Street end of the arcade. I took pictures of the entrance and framed a few trams in and around the entrance. I did get a few strange looks as I took pictures up and down the arcade. I felt sorry for the Faculty cafe as there were few people in an otherwise empty cafe. There was also a worry for flower shop with its mother’s day signs as I now know writing this it will be a rather subdued day. The barbers shop was busy and the regular footfall through the arcade was brisk. Some shops are closing down, other established shops are busy for the moment.

Looking in
Reflections
Shops and people

Eventually I came to the entrance on New Street and took a few minutes to take in the beautiful architecture and the passage of people around the entrance. The two cupids are just above the the New Street entrance. I had never really seen them before. It is funny how you pass by shops and buildings without giving then a second glance.

Cupids
front entrance

The ceiling within in the Arcade has murals which depict several dystopian scenes with people looking down on you. There was a guy taking a picture of the ceiling whilst I was there. Several of the photographs I have processed in black and white as it gives a nice contrast to the colour pictures that were taken. I hope you enjoy this visit through this passageway that connects a busy part of Birmingham.

looking up

The Arcade has a great website and far from me to plagiarise the history or the information that is contained on the site. So if you want the background then please visit
https://piccadillyarcade.org

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