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Tag Archives: Birmingham

Categories blog

Top of the Rotunda

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

When the chance came to take photographs from the top of the Rotunda then I was first in the queue. Maybe not first as there were several other keen photographers that wanted to up there as well. Those people with passion, @Birminghamweare organised the visit to Floor 20 of the iconic Rotunda. We had a 6 to 9.30pm slot on a Sunday night in one of the Staying Cool apartments. The city was buzzing as the Velo bike riders were finishing their 100 mile trip around the West Midlands. I thought I would be late for the trip to the top but I found a place to park and made my way to the Rotunda. I have passed the entrance many times but now I was going in and up to the top. We were based in Room 25 which has the best views over Grand Central and out to the west of Birmingham. I met up with my fellow photographers and walked out onto the veranda – viewing platform at the very top of the Rotunda. I took several minutes to take in the scene and as I often do in these situations got my phone out and took some pictures.

floor 20 of the Rotunda
late afternoon from the Rotunda
four buses
one train with many platforms
we are watching you
shadows and people

Having settled down and after the initial excitement had subsided, then it was time to start taking some pictures of the magnificent view. I had brought along my 100 – 400mm Canon lens which was able to pick out all the landmarks. These included Birmingham City football ground, St Martin’s Church, the Bus station, Grand Central, St Philip’s Cathedral. the Mailbox and Snow Hill. So many different views to choose from.

air conditioning
1, 2, 3 Snow Hill
green and white
the top of Selfridges
your friendly neighbourhood
that is why they call it the blues
lines

The setting of the sun was very exciting and we were all politely jostling for position to get the best shot in. We all managed to get our pictures of the sunset and then this was followed by the night lights of Grand Central and the surrounding buildings. Another set of pictures were taken. Then it was all over. Three and a half hours had gone so quickly. When I got back home it was such fun to look back at all the pictures and also so interesting to see pictures taken by the other photographers from the @Birminghamweare group.

the sign says it all
lens ball of grand central
setting sun
crane and a tower
warm tones
blue and red
Evening falls and the City lights up

A BIG thank you to Jonathan Bostock and Debra Power from @Birminghamweare for organising this memorable visit. Also thank you to Staying Cool at the Rotunda for allowing us the opportunity to view Birmingham from above. Finally I hope you enjoy all the pictures on show and tune into people with passion – Birminghamweare

the Rotunda
007 approach to photography
Categories blog

Knife Angel

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Made out of 100,000 confiscated knives, this 24 foot statue is both emotive and chilling as a tribute to victims of knife crime. I wished to catch a picture of it at night and even at 9.30pm people were attracted to the statue to stop and look. It is mesmerising and the hands and eyes look right through you as you gaze upwards.

The Angel stands out from the buildings around it

The statue is on its way down from Liverpool to Trafalgar Square London. Here are my pictures taken with my Canon 5D with the trusty 24-105mm lens. A high ISO was necessary but it adds to the gritty nature of the subject. If you get the chance I strongly recommend seeing it.

Looking up at the Angel
The angel is in Victoria Square
People gather all the time to view it.
Categories blog

@birminghamweare

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

This is a great community who are active in many different parts of Birmingham life. It is about celebrating inspired people and the success of different communities in the Birmingham area. One are of celebration is in photography. The good people of Birmingham have featured 10 of my best photographs as portrayed on their web site

It is interesting to me what other people like with my photographs. All the pictures taken were featured on Twitter @birminghamweare and received numerous likes.

Categories blog

Steve Gunn

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Taking concert pictures is not easy for me as I am not as young as I used to be and do not like being squashed at the front of the concert. The chance to take some close up pictures came when I went to see Steve Gunn, a guitarist and songwriter, who is prolific songwriter. Steve’s style is influenced by blues, folk and rock and he is a pretty good guitarist as well.

The first song is done

The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham is an intimate venue and there is the ability to move through the audience and get very close to the artist. I had my Sony RX100v5 camera on manual settings with a shutter speed of 1/200, aperture f/2.8 and ISO 2000. Getting close and taking the pictures meant that the lighting was a little easier to control. I expect I could have changed the settings a bit more but I am generally pleased with the results. Also we got a selfie with the man himself after the concert.

Lets get to the microphone

The concert had some great music. He was good to listen to and he is an excellent guitarist. The small venue meant that the sound was good and the different parts of the band came together well\\. The guys sorting out the sound were not so happy but it was a good night all round.

The band is working well
I have a few guitars to use yet
Thanks for coming along tonight
Putting that song over
Tuning up
The light garden at the Hare and Hounds
Andy, Steve Gunn and myself
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

Photographing a Cathedral

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

“Birmingham we are” is full of passion and I have been posting pictures on their Twitter account for over 3 years. It is run by Jonathan Bostock and Daniel Sturley with help from Debbie. They have successfully published the Birmingham Gem’s Calendar for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. Their web site is popular and has many followers throughout the West Midlands and beyond. Jonathan organised a visit to St Phillips Cathedral for a group of enthusiastic photographers who contribute to the @birminghamweare twitter account . The meeting was also an opportunity to meet @wasps (we all shoot photographs) collective of photographers. We met up at the St Philips Cathedral on a Saturday morning and were greeted by one of the volunteers, Andrew, who showed as around. We initially went outside and then undertook a detailed visit of the inside of the Cathedral. There were many highlights and the stained glass windows in particular were interesting both to photograph and to listen about the story about their creation.

The stained glass windows were impressive each with a story to tell
This City was built on Books
The Sacristy
Beautiful glass
Every church should have one
Andrew answering questions

There were so many other pictures taken and here is a gallery of them and if you want to see how others interpreted the Cathedral then please visit the fantastic post from Birminghamweare.

A view outside
Categories blog

Merry Christmas 2018

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

A few pictures of Trees and some Birmingham locations this Christmas

The University of Birmingham
Church Street, Birmingham Business District
Noddy Holder in Lego – Merry Christmas Everyone
The Cathedral looking pretty
with Reindeers and a Tree
Futuristic Christmas Tree in the Cube
Merry Christmas – Mailbox Style
The Custard Factory looking festive
Snow House at the Bull Ring
Categories blog Uncategorised

East is East

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Taken inside Ashted Canal Tunnel and holding onto my camera every so tightly over the water

Another view in Ashted Tunnel

The area around the locks looks derelict but not for long

There will be many new buildings going up in this area.

Curzon street tunnel which takes the canal under the new HS2 rail link to London.

A view of the city from the Digbeth canal branch of the Grand Union Canal

Interesting Graffiti under the bridges

Old canal buildings along the canal

Quiet morning reflections along the canal

Following on from the recent blog post Go West. I decided to feature the canals network on Eastside where there is a great deal of regeneration occurring mainly fuelled by the location of the HS2 at Curzon street station. Millennium point was the start of the development and with Birmingham City University building in the area, it has led to further developments. These include student accommodation and other small business enterprises. This is taking place in an area that was left derelict and the canal system still retains the grandeur of former days. I wandered around here with my Canon 6D and a 40 mm lens plus my Sony Camera. The 40 mm lens does make you think about your picture taking and you do have to move to get a good picture. The graffiti adds colour and may not to be everyone’s taste but I do like some of the local artists that paint in the area. There is still more development happening which is exciting to see although some of the old history may get eradicated in the process.
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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

 

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