I have been documenting the Lockdowns over the last year and we are a few days away from April 12th when shops will reopen. My last blog entry was all about Digbeth. I was interested to see what the city centre looked like and therefore, after taking pictures in Digbeth, I walked into Birmingham city centre. As expected, It was quiet except for all the ‘Just Eat’ guys on the steps eating during their lunch break. Their bikes were all strewn around the concourse overlooking St Martins church. Other pictures taken on my walk included some headline photographs of the Electric Cinema looking sparkly from nearby reflections, trams and masks in Birmingham and the covering of the Selfridges store. Here are a few highlights of that stroll around the centre.
Walk a mile in my shoesThis is a cheeky street photoSelfridges is slowly being coveredTexting but not just eatingMore of the Just Eat GuysStreet Just Eat againSigns of the times
Lockdown 3 is easing and in early April, I found myself back in Digbeth to take a look at what was happening. One reason was to look for the new Street art project by @Fokawolf but more of that later. I parked the car in Coventry street car park and made my way to Digbeth. I love the Suki10cc artwork by street artist Gent 48 It features the up and coming black stars in Birmingham. The house is so colourful and is great to photograph. It was one of my pictures that was featured in my recent Amateur Photography magazine feature. This visit, I decided to do some unconventional pictures by getting close to the mural.
Best in BirminghamMeriden Street
Walking down Bordesly Street, I experimented with some street photography. It is my first venture out with my Fujifilm x100v and I was a little self conscious trying to use it. However when I reached the Custard Factory, the camera comes into its own. A few pictures on the bridge over the River Rea, and then into Gibb street where there were a few people moving around. I took a few pictures of the colourful artwork (as you do when in Digbeth). I was pleased with the one I took by the street artist 0707 as it was very colourful especially with the bicycle on the colourful bike rack.
Bridge over the River ReaThe Custard Factory Street art by 0707Colours of Gibb Street (so many street artists here, Philth, Gent 48, n4t4 etc)
My next stop was to see the artwork by @fokawolf. It is a larger than life blown up picture of Pat Butcher from Eastenders and it is underneath the railway arch on Heath Mill Lane. It is such a random bizarre mural. The character is not associated with Birmingham and why it is placed here is not known. What it does do is provoke comment and debate. That makes it all worthwhile. My picture shows how tall the mural is with the couple next to it. I also took a picture of the balconies on the Custard Factory and posted it on the BBC weather pages. The architecture always looks good especially when the sun is shining on it. Fortunately for me, it was featured on the local BBC weather news.
Pat Butcher by FokawolfThe Custard Factory as featured on the BBC local weather
Still in a wandering mood my next destination was Lower Trinity street taking pictures along the way of some of the more interesting street art. By the time I had reached Bordesley station, I thought it would be good idea to see the canals. It is very quiet around there and I worry about my personal safety. However it seemed ok so I carried on taking pictures. I like the colour of the graffiti and in fact one of my favourite artists, Lucy McLaughlan‘s art work is under the Deritend road bridges. My first attempt at a long exposure for 3 seconds with the Fujifilm x100v gave a pleasing result. As I moved back into Digbeth along the canals it became much quieter. I did meet a friend Mullerbiker from my Slack British Tech Network who happened (as he was) passing through the canal network. After chatting for a few minutes, he left but then my courage failed me and I retraced my steps out of the system and walked along the road back into Digbeth again.
Purple umbrellasNo ParkingThe Night OwlThinking I should be somewhere elseLife and DeathBordesley station in the lightLucy McLauchlan Monochrome in long expsoureGrafitti on the canalsIn DigbethCustard Factory
I love a long walk and during lockdown 3, I have found some good places to visit as I have ventured further afield than in the previous ones. There is one walk that takes me out of Knowle village along the main road to Balsall Common. Passing Knowle locks, the main Kenilworth road (B4101) is full of twists and turns. It is an accident-prone road so being away from it is preferable and there is a public footpath that can be accessed just after a majestic building called Hedge House. On the market for 3.5 million pounds, it is a converted barn. The estate agents description shows the expansive interior and outside it demands your attention.
Once on the public footpath, it crosses over the fields to the edge of Springfield House and from here, it is possible to cross the main road to Cuttle Brook Wood part of the Woodland Trust.
The brook on the edge of Cuttle Brook Wood
It is a young wood with a direct diagonal line through the property and it leads onto Cuttle Pool Nature reserve and a brook which forms one side of the property. The road bridge forms a boundary to the private Temple Balsall nature reserve. The area has many birds and wildlife abound. There are otters back in the brook and the area is interesting to visit. Going underneath the road bridge it is possible to take a picture of the entrance to the private nature reserve. The featured black and white picture generated international interest on social media. The monochrome brings out the shapes of the tree branches as they are reflected in the water.
Entrance to private nature reserve showing a fallen tree
Making my way safely across the road bridge, it is possible to access Temple Balsall via the humanist burial ground and move into St Mary’s church graveyard. Harry Williams is buried at the church and his grave is situated to one side of the property. Williams along with Jack Judge wrote the song ‘It is A long way to Tipperary’. There was controversy over the ownership of the song but here the area is peaceful and the grave points towards the path that leads onto the church.
The grave of Harry Williams, writer of It’s a long way to TipperaryChurchyard of St Mary’s churchSt Mary’s Church
The church and the surrounding houses are picturesque and the path leads further onto the Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson which runs a school and also cares for the elderly. A direct footpath leads back via a bridle path to the Black Boy. There are a couple of turns and the main Warwick Road to negotiate but once on the canal towpath then it is simple walk back to Knowle. Civilisation returns with canal boats and cyclists. There is a canal boat wharf with colourful boats and in spite of lockdown some activity happening.
The canal next to the Kings Arms on the Warwick Rd
The canal side pubs are still shut with stacks of chairs and tables lying empty. Not long now that we return to some normality. The walk started and finished at Elderberry black café and a bacon sandwich is purchased. A well deserved rest on a local bench in the centre of the village Coffee in one hand and sandwich in the other make for a sense of achievement.
Look up any reference on Hillmorton Locks and they are quoted as being the busiest along all of the UK canal waterways. Found on the outskirts of Rugby, they are a hidden gem as accessing them is not straightforward. From the south, the locks are approached via a narrow entrance tunnel under the West Coast Railway line. Once through this, then there is parking available at the local parish church St John the Baptist. There are three sets of locks and the lower lock has a workshop and a few bridges. Nestling on the banks of the canal was a small inviting coffee shop which is getting ready to open.
Hillmorton Locks
The locks themselves are unusual in that there are two side by side. This was to ease congestion due to its position on the canal network as being the main highway south to London. The second of the locks is after a gentle curve in the canal and this is different as the lock beams have letters carved into them.
inscriptions on the lock gates
Locklines consists of a poem of which four lines are on the lock gates at Hillmorton. At first I wondered why they had been placed in the gates but then it made sense reading the article on them. They are interesting lines
WORKING WATER CAPTIVE FOR A WHILE CLIMBS CAREFULLY DOWN THIS DOOR MAKES DEPTH
There were three poets involved and one designer and the weblink provides more details on how it all pieces together.
Looking down from the upper lock
It is then a straight walk up to the third and final lock. This provides nice views back down the locks and the criss cross pattern of the gates makes for some nice pictures of the canal. The canal then moves onto run past a new housing estate that is built on the old radio masts that used to be a feature of Hillmorton. I remember both as a boy and young man taking the train down to London and passing the Rugby antenna masts that were tall structures in the Landscape. Little did I realise that many years into the future that I would be passing them again but under different circumstances. Walking back down the locks provided different views including glimpses of the Church of St John the Baptist which were especially pleasing to photograph with the locks in the foreground.
Details around Hillmorton LocksDetails around Hill Morton LocksDetails around Hillmorton Locks
I am glad that I lingered around the middle lock as my attention was caught by a signpost that had the directions Vaccine and New Normal. There was even a strange red ball structure on the top that I realised was meant to represent a corona virus. Further investigations revealed that there was a third sign with Way Out. Clambered over the gate I looked around to see where it led. Nothing to see until I turned around. The back of the sign was inscribed with different lines about the Covid19 pandemic and these included
No Hugs Mask uo No PPE 2 metres Clap NHS Rule of 3 Bubbles Home workers Pubs shut …..plus many others.
The whole list maybe seen in the photograph and I have highlighted the post for clearer viewing. It is great fun and it is still continuing I expect.
The post with a record of the pandemic written down.
Finally I had a quick look at the Church which was quietly sandwiched between the railway line and the canal. Spring is starting and the blossom was just opening. I will revisit when the leaves are fully on the trees and the lovely café is open for a cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy the pictures!
The Instagram algorithm is often blamed for not giving your photographs sufficient exposure. In reality it is how you engage with Instagram that brings success. I find the Flickr algorithm just as fascinating. This year I have had three pictures “In Explore” compared to the same number for all of 2020. All algorithms require you to constantly interact with your social media feeds. Flickr Explore is no different. In Instagram, the algorithm relies on several easily identifiable factors. Searching the web will immediately provide tips on how to improve your Instagram likes. They are not rocket science and are generally in relation to timing of posts and the interest in your photograph. Of course this is social media and the secret is keeping your audience happy with liking and commenting on their pictures as well. That is not a secret I hear you say! The Flickr Algorithm is just the same and it is about interacting with the people who are posting the photographs. They term the algorithm interestingness and on many occasions it is not necessarily a great photograph that gets into explore. However taking good photographs does help to get your photograph noticed in the first place. Amassing a large number of likes is so intoxicating and being on Explore is a popularity contest. I find that with the Flickr app my phone starts flashing first thing in the morning and then continues during the day with all the likes tumbling in. It is not uncommon to receive in excess of 40k likes for a highly placed picture in the Flickr top 500 of the day.
20210124-Snow on the canal
The three photographs featured here received around 4k in likes plus invites into different groups. Someone told me that Flickr is dead in the water. I tend to disagree as when a picture gets into explore it feels like the site is truly alive and kicking. The three pictures featured offer nothing different to my other photographs on my Flickr feed but each has its own story. The first one featured this year is a canal boat in the snow and is a particular favourite of mine. I deliberately took the picture side on and wanted to layer it so that the lower third featured the boat and then the eyes move upwards to see the snow covered trees. It provides that snowed in feeling and it also looks very cold. The question is whether there are people living in the boat and are they feeling the cold as well? There is a sense of isolation. This picture was taken during Lockdown #3 so isolation is very much on the viewer’s mind.
20210208_Knowle Park in the winter
The second picture was in Knowle park. The back story was that there have been many dull days during this third lockdown and on this particular evening I was desperate to get a great sunset. Early in the afternoon, it looked promising when I set out and then when I reached the park the clouds closed over. I was so annoyed and started to make my way back home. Suddenly and to my joy, the clouds parted once again for around a minute. I saw a walker and aimed to catch him in the image but by the time I had lined him up he was far to the right of the picture. When I got home I was still not impressed with the photograph so I went to work with the sliders. I was a bit slap dash in my approach although it did look pleasing to me. The Flickr algorithm picked it up and the likes and comments followed.
20210303 – Clowes wood
Once you have been on Explore you cannot get back on for around 9 days. If you are in favour with the algorithm then after this time you can anticipate when the next selection is about to occur. I had a large spike in likes for one picture but no explore and then two days later this woodland scene went into explore. I took the picture in Clowes Wood near Earlswood reservoir. All the trees in this part of the wood were straight and in the foreground there was this one crooked tree. It had eventually found out how to be straight when placed against its siblings in the background. Again I played around with the photograph in post production and whilst it was misty, the fog was not that evident. I went for a Silver Efex Pro 2 filter and used the Hi Key feature. It looked good so I posted it on Flickr – once again there was a great response to the picture.
I have done a colour version and for this one I used the Skylum AI filters which also gave a nice effect. You can judge for yourself which you feel makes the better picture.
Many people now look down on Flickr and have drifted off to Instagram but the SmugMug team have updated the Flickr algorithm and made it more relevant to present photography users. Therefore I would advise, people to give Flickr another chance.
I will leave a discussion on the Instagram algorithm for another blog as it is slightly different approach but again the key as with Flickr is interacting with your audience.
Spring is starting to reveal itself and the first snowdrops are through. In the garden we planted a number of them a few years ago and now they are starting to make their presence felt. Walking into the village, there are many crocuses starting to come through. It always looks a struggle for them especially with the recent cold and wet weather that leaves them looking a little bedraggled. Over the next few months there will be more bulbs starting to flower. With a year on since the start of the series of Lockdowns caused by the Pandemic there is something once again to look forward to and pick up the spirits.
Crocuses outside Knowle Church
PhotoTip When taking pictures of flowers ensure you get down to their level. I did get very muddy getting this picture with my compact camera. The Snowdrops was taken with a macro lens and the lovely black background was provided by a T-shirt.
Further Updates on Spring We are waiting for the Bluebells and the Poppies to show themselves in the coming weeks. Spring is an exciting time. I will be keeping an eye out on BBC Springwatch for regular updates and also getting gardening tips from the RHS so that there are lovely flowers in the garden to photograph.
Being published as an academic was always a high point of my career and the old phrase “publish or perish” is so true. Publishing your work was necessary to advance your career. I had published many papers in the dental world and now I am starting to look for new opportunities in the photographic one. In the last few years, I have had my pictures published in Digital Photographer and Amateur Photographer (AP). It gave me the confidence to realise that my pictures were OK and people were not only interested in them but enjoyed looking at them as well. I therefore chanced my luck and wrote to the Editor of AP to see if the magazine would publish any of my work. I sent a link to this blog. I did not hear anything for a couple of months until one Saturday night, I got an email saying they were interested. The pictures which caught their attention were those of the street art of Birmingham. I was so excited and found they wanted to feature me in the Readers section. I filled in the form that they sent and quietly waited.
Bath Passage street art. This picture was the main feature of my article! Thanks to Gent48 for the artwork and thanks to the unknown stranger
On the 13th February, Tammie Naughton from Birmingham who is in her own right an amazing photographer, alerted me on Twitter with a picture of my article. I have taken the liberty of using Tammie’s picture in this blog and have provided a link to her work below. As it happens, I subscribe to AP and was so pleased to read the article there was one small mistake of the pictures, but it would not be noticeable to those who are general readers. I have corrected the Photograph below.
Street art by Justin Sola which was not featured by mistake
In conclusion, I was so pleased to see the article published but it has now made me think about new articles that could be written on photography. I know it is a crowded popular area although there are always new ways of getting the message across.
Graffiti Art in Digbeth. Such a great place to visit.
Phototip Try your hand at Blogging as it is gets you started in the craft of writing. Once you have a few blogs ready then start sending your pictures into the editors of photographic magazines. I know that the common answer is no or no reply but occasionally, just occasionally the answer may be yes!
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