Amazingly, I have not written a blog about the German Christmas market in Birmingham. I have taken pictures of the Christmas markets but many of them are single photos on my social streams. My first observation is that the markets are set up way too early. The present one opened up on the 2nd November … Continue reading Is it Christmas yet? Birmingham thinks it is!

Such great news. My picture “Reflections in Floodgate Street” was highly commended in the 2003 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.  This year I had two pictures and I was also commended for my picture “Fog in Gas Street Basin“. Both pictures feature in the Cityscapes section of the competition. This is the second year … Continue reading Featured in the book – my reflections on Landscape Photographer of the Year 2023

The window dressing at Selfridges is always amazing and in October the windows were designed around phrases and images.  The phrases were very catchy and if you placed people in front of them then they made for some fun street photography.  As I was taking photographs, people did not look at me but rather the windows that … Continue reading People watching outside Selfridges windows on Oxford Street.

 Carchitecture is the architectural term where buildings and cars influence each other on the design of a city.  Birmingham is a prime example of this form of architecture planning.  The city suffered extensive bombing during the war and there were opportunities to plan a new streetmap.  The car was correctly predicted to be the vehicle of the future … Continue reading The Ringway Centre and the legacy of brutalist Birmingham

On a day that the government announced a review of the spending of HS2, I revisited my continuing project on the damage to 16 Acre wood near to Berkswell.  I first started taking pictures of this small wood in March 2021 and revisited the area in 2022.  The spiralling costs of HS2 have made the headlines and … Continue reading The continuing story of HS2 and 16 Acre wood

Birmingham Heritage week is an exciting time in the calendar year for photographers. During this week, buildings open their doors allowing access to areas which are not normally open to the public.  Each year in September, I scan the list of venues that are opening their doors to the public and have a look at what … Continue reading Opening the door to a treasure trove of history – my visit to the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre

IgersbirminghamUK have been busy during the year organising a range of Instameets. Following on from our visit to St Chad’s Cathedral, we were contacted by Alexander Beard, the Heritage Officer of the West Midlands Police Museum. Alexander offered us two Instameets at the former Lock up in Steelhouse Lane thus giving the photographers of IgersbirminghamUK … Continue reading Details from the West Midlands Police Museum – photos taken during an IgersbirminghamUK Instameet

Queen Mary University of London is on the Mile End Road and adjacent to the Regent’s canal.  Part of the campus borders the canal and there is easy access from the University entrance.  I was at QMUL for a conference but took the opportunity to explore the tow path.  My first tow path walk was … Continue reading Walking the Regent’s Canal – Queen Mary University of London to Victoria Park