These pedicabs or rickshaws look exciting but they are an accident waiting to happen as often or not the cyclist is not looking at the road whilst he is weaving in and out of the traffic. These pictures were taken on Oxford and Regent Street during the early evening. The streets were full of Christmas shoppers and were many of these bright contraptions on the roads. Furthermore the rickshaw does look very flimsy. There are so many of them blaring out music and weaving in and out of traffic. Even though these bicycles do not travel so fast, the light is tricky when photographing at night.
Three in the back and one driver.
There are many articles on these so called pedicabs which highlight the problems that surround them. I have featured two of them from the BBC and the Metro.
Whilst the passengers are happy, the driver has one hand on the bar and the other on his phone.All eyes on the road please.
These pictures were taken during my recent visits to London and you can read more on the link below.
Street photographers love London, and everyone has their favourite area for taking pictures. I simply enjoy watching people move around the streets. Sometimes, you find a street teeming with opportunities for photographs; other times, it is not so fruitful. But, as they say, go with the flow—good pictures are always waiting for you.
The upside down world of Soho.Good will on Earth to Refugees.
When wandering the streets, having a companion to share your journey is invaluable. Peter is an excellent photo buddy (link to Website). Living in London, Peter knows the best places to visit and is adept at finding ideal spots to stand. My other companion is my Fujifilm X100vi. The inbuilt image stabilisation makes it perfect for street photography. I shoot with a low shutter speed (1/30,1/60), a wide aperture (f4), and auto ISO to adapt to unexpected moments. The resulting pictures can be noisy, but a quick edit with Lightroom’s denoise function cleans them up effectively.
Everyone is taking pictures of the Piccadilly light show.The streets were atmospheric giving a Christmas look.
I have also set up my camera with back-button focusing, which has significantly improved my ability to capture scenes in focus. However, this technique introduces a slight delay as I focus before pressing the shutter. I overcome this by anticipating the scene forming in front of me.
Regent street shop displays are very elegant making super street photography backdrops.
My first stop was to see the lights along Regent Street, with the beautiful angels soaring above the centre of the road. The shop windows offered bright, eye-catching displays. My technique here was simple: stand still for a few minutes and point my camera at the scene waiting for a suitable picture to materialise. The magic in this series of pictures came from the rain earlier in the afternoon. A light drizzle was falling on the pavement, creating reflections that shimmered with colours.
Reflections and colours
I met Peter at Waterstones’ coffee shop, and we set off together. Starting with the bright lights of Piccadilly, we walked along Shaftesbury Avenue before exploring Chinatown. The city was bustling as it was the end of the working day. Pubs were overflowing, and people were moving everywhere, on foot and by bicycle. There was so much activity that pictures appeared all around us.
Umbrella for the rainRed Coat
— The rain added another layer to the story, bringing out umbrellas that enhanced the scenes. As we wandered into the narrow streets of Soho, the vibrant atmosphere gave way to Leicester Square. Here, we encountered a German market, but it was a disappointment. The stalls were no different from those found in Birmingham, and their circular arrangement felt uninspired. I did, however, find an interesting tree to photograph, though not much else of note.
Tree decorations – Leicester Square.Busking away looking for an audience.
We did not stay long at the market. Instead, we headed to the Diamond Jubilee Garden facing St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden. The coloured lights reflecting off the wet pavements created a stunning view, and the silhouettes of people walking through the garden added depth to the composition of my pictures. We arrived at Covent Garden itself, and the decorations there were breathtaking. The large decorative bells and Christmas ornaments hanging from the ceiling filled the space with festive charm. The place was alive with energy, and I could have spent hours photographing the scene. This was my final stop on my visit to the lights of London. There were a few more pictures to take along the Strand before arriving at Charing Cross station and the Bakerloo line up to Marylebone station.
Approaching Covent Garden.St Paul’s Church Covent Garden.Street reflections and silhouettes. St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.The Christmas tree and decorations in Covent GardenThe beauty of the interior of Covent Garden.
All that remains for me to say is: enjoy my photographs and the short descriptions accompanying each one. There are some fantastic backdrops, including a particularly amusing one where a poster is upside down. I am sure this was deliberate, designed to catch the eye of keen street photographers like Peter and me as we wander London’s streets.
Toys and Souvenirs.Blue tyres and red lights on the Strand.Outside Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.Walking in the rain outside the Hippodrome.I love London.The shop window says it all.Escalator at Charing Cross.
If you enjoyed this view of Christmas lights then please follow the links below for more stories. One is about Christmas in Birmingham this year. The second is snow in our village in 2017.
The shop designers at Selfridges Birmingham are always ahead of the game when Christmas arrives. Yes I know Christmas is arriving earlier and earlier each year. These pictures were taken on 4th November when we went in for a shopping expedition. I love the ground floor of Selfridges and the attention to detail is wonderful to see. Seeing the Christmas decorations reminds me of when I was growing up in Manchester as a young boy, my parents took me into Kendals department store on Deansgate. I was so excited to see the store’s decorations and the feeling of expectation of what Father Christmas may bring me.
The Selfridges’ Christmas TreeThe lights and the reflective spheres.
—
When we visited, the first port of call was the ground floor to see the various shops all set up for Christmas. I enjoy seeing the Lego sets (yes the boy in me is still there), looking at the Christmas cards and this time checking out the extensive Jellycats stand. I also visited the White company as I know that is the place Sandy likes. I was planning ahead for her birthday and Christmas in the next few months.
Having a marmalade sandwich with Paddington.
We had brunch at the Medicine Bakery. Before Covid, I had a dental clinic at Boots every Monday. I used to spend an hour taking photographs before arriving at the Medicine Bakery for a coffee and a croissant. Then I hotfooted across town to Boots to start the day. Their pastries are wonderfully light and the filling is delicious. Just outside the café, Paddington was on a bench eating marmalade sandwiches. It would be rude not to have a picture of Siân and Mason with Paddington.
The Bull at Selfridges.
The Selfridges Bull, not to be confused with the Bullring bull, was sporting some splendid Christmas decorations. The rest of the shopping centre was also getting into the spirit of Christmas and I am sure that I will be back again several times over the festive period.
The Bull Ring shopping Centre is quiet on a Monday morning before the Christmas Shopping begins.
There will be many more blog posts before Christmas but if you wish to revisit Christmas 2023 then I have the following link for you to visit.
I am very fortunate to live within a few miles of two outstanding National Trust properties. Packwood House and Baddesley Clinton are within walking distance of each other and during the summer I visit them on my bike. Both houses have different charms. Baddesley is a moated house in a picturesque setting. The gardens are well laid out and are fantastic to see in the summer months when they are in full bloom. Packwood house is charming and whilst it does not have a moat, there are other unique features. Packwood has the amazing topiary called the Sermon on the Mount and a walled kitchen garden where one can follow the changes in the vegetation during the year. There is little to choose between the two houses.
The moat around Baddesley Clinton.
This Christmas both houses have upped their game and have really gone to town with their decorations. You would almost think that there is a competition between the two properties on who could put on the better display. Looking on the web, I realise that the majority of the National Trust properties enjoy putting up their decorations. This story of Christmas between these two houses is reenacted up and down the country.
Visiting Packwood each December is a delight and this year the house looked very Christmassy inside. Each room of the house has a Christmas tree. The larger Christmas trees are naturally in the bigger rooms. The Entrance Hall Christmas tree is decorated with handmade decorations and has a commanding presence. The three adjacent rooms each with their own Christmas tree are set up for welcoming guests to dinner in the 1920s. The place settings and the arrangement of the food on the table is carefully choreographed.
The tree in the Entrance Hall at Packwood.The room is set for a 1920’s Christmas dinner.One of the many Christmas trees at Packwood.
When photographing National Trust properties, I always look for the small things and those details that you miss whilst looking around the room. I am naturally drawn to the bigger view and as I entered each room, your eyes quickly alight on the brightly lit Christmas trees. The polished wooden floors reflect the light from the trees. For inside photography, I use my iPhone15 as the sensor quickly picks up the colours in the low light. I did try and use a long exposure setting with my compact camera but there were too many people moving around in a small space. Plus the volunteers do become worried when you bring out the tripod even though it is a small travel one.
Hand made decorationsPretty paper wheels.Baubles Dinner table settingReady for the ball.Beautiful tree.
Packwood has one room off the Long Gallery, that is set up with a minature town scene with skaters on white icelike flooring. As the picture shows the lighting effect in the darkened room produces a magical effect.
A magical scene at the foot of this Christmas Tree.Details of the sceneThe Christmas Tree.
The Long Gallery has two more Christmas trees and the final room has a long narrow decorated table that leads to another impressive tree. I counted 8 trees in all (I could be wrong). Along the way there was a story being told as the place was set up for a Christmas masquerade ball.
Dressed for the ball.Some beads in your tea.Baby its cold outside.The Christmas Tree in the Long Hall.
I did enjoy visiting the house, however, the place I loved the most was the kitchen garden. Here the old tree near to the entrance was decorated with all types of decorations. The afternoon light shimmered on the shiny lanterns. Many of the decorations like those in the house were hand made. There was continuation of the skating theme on the potting shelves.
Entrance to the Kitchen Garden.Skates on the potting shelves.Lantern in the tree.A beautifully decorated tree.
My Verdict on Packwood. The house is amazing with the Christmas trees that enhanced the beauty of the old building. The best part of my visit was viewing the outside tree in the Kitchen Garden.
Baddesley Clinton is fully prepared for Christmas. As you pass through the shop into the courtyard you, a Christmas tree awaits you. Before entering the house, I walked along the garden paths and loved the large, big red ribbons and the decorations of the summer house with the story of the Holly and the Ivy.
Lovely red ribbons.
The larger sloping greenhouse on the garden wall had orange slices hung up as decorations and there were pomanders (oranges with cloves) adorning the ceiling. Recipes for making mulled wine and smoking Bishops were available. I love the name of Smoking Bishop for an alcoholic drink. The walled garden and the vegetable growing areas were being prepared for winter by the gardeners and my time slot for the house entrance was due.
Decorated Greenhouse.PomandersMulled wineHolly and the IvyThe decorated entrance.Entering the garden and house.
The walk through the house was a Christmas tour de force. The kitchen was getting ready for a grand feast. There was a Christmas card display to browse over before entering the grand Christmas tree by an open fire in the Great Hall. The downstairs rooms were a delight to visit with preparations for dinner and carols being many of the activities being featured.
Christmas time by the fireplace.DecorationsRed and white bowsGingerbread manTable set for a feast.
Upstairs the first two rooms were all ready for Christmas presents to be delivered. Lady Chatterton’s Bedroom on the corner room overlooking the orchid was beautifully laid out and included a decorated tree. The next room was the Great Parlour and there was a spectacular frieze of children skating. This had the wow factor. There were two Christmas trees, children skating on the ice and little owls watching the proceedings. The final room had a frieze of a family singing carols. In the room, the exhibit I found most interesting was of the glass ornament that had a model of the house in a large jar.
This display had the Wow factor.Hand made decorations.A snowy owl hidden in the tree.Christmas StockingLady Chatterton’s Bedroom
After such an exciting visit to the house, I retired to the cafe and had a Turkey Bap with trimmings. This was a Christmas dinner at a reasonable price. Another highlight of my visit to the property.
My delicious Turkey Bap in the Stables restaurant.
My Verdict on Baddesley Clinton. Great food, some wonderful ideas put into practice with the decoration of the rooms and a garden ready for Christmas.
So two houses, giving two versions of Christmas, lots of trees, decorations, and food. Which of the two properties is better prepared for Christmas? I would recommend visiting and if you read this at a later date, my answer is that they both have captured the Christmas Spirit in a brilliant manner.
Thanks must go the National Trust employees and the volunteers whose industry at Christmas and throughout the year make these properties such fun places to visit. If you enjoyed this blog then I do have other entries of my visits to National Trust properties around the area. Click on this link to find all my visits.
I visited Packwood House at Christmas in 2021 and if you want to see what they did back then, the blog is below.
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 2023. This is crazy yet when I visited the city centre a week after the opening, there were many visitors enjoying the early experience of Christmas. Over the years there is a pattern as the markets extend more and more. However, there was a grand reset in Christmas 2020 with the Pandemic but now the markets are back to their former self.
Centenary Square at Christmas.The big wheel in Centenary Square.
In Centenary square, there is the Big wheel, an ice skating rink and other spinning attractions. The pedestrian link to Victoria square is more subdued as it is private land although the restaurants in and around Chamberlain square are doing well.
I love this street photograph. A store called Filthy Fries! How do they arrive at such names.
The real noise and excitement starts in Victoria square and this is with you all the way down to the Bull Ring. Shops selling food and drink. The prices are very high considering there is standing room only. The shops also sell other items such as candles, jewellery and gifts you never knew you wanted. I expect most of these gifts will be put away or recycled after Christmas.
Christmas market in Victoria Square, Birmingham.A long exposure of the Carousel in Victoria Square.Looking down to New Street.
My purpose for going to the early Christmas market was to take pictures. Every photographer in Birmingham has to post a picture of the market on their Instagram account. I did not want to be left out so armed with my iPhone and x100v, I braved the crowds on a Thursday night. Taking pictures with the iPhone is straightforward although I hold onto it firmly as I do not want it snatched away from me. Taking a camera out and then putting it on a tripod does generate some attention so I used the tripod sparingly and looked for convenient surfaces to rest the camera.
Chosing candles.What the reindeer is looking at.Christmas decorations.Those gifts you never knew you needed.The Floozie enjoying the lights.Chocs galore.
My plan for photographs including taking pictures of spinning things including the beautiful carousel in Victoria Square. I was also keen to capture some of the atmosphere and fun that people were having by being around the market. Taking pictures is not easy as people get in the way and are not posing for you. Therefore at different places in the market, I grabbed what opportunity that I could and moved on. I also walked back from the Bull Ring via Gas Street basin which was less crowded and therefore easier for photographing.
Piccadilly ArcadeFather ChristmasHe is everywhere.
When I got home, I was initially disappointed with my pictures. I am always like this as I want every picture to be a winner. I know that is never the case and I was just hoping that I had captured some good ones. I am always surprised by the pictures that look good and were opportunistic rather than the ones that I had planned in my mind.
This is a feature every year.
So this is a snapshot of the Christmas market in Birmingham 2023. I am sure that I will look back on these in a few years time and cringe at them. There is still another Christmas market to open around the Birmingham Cathedral which happens to be more picturesque. Maybe some photographs of this market will feature in my future blog postings.
Signs in the market.
Walking back along the canal to Gas Street Basin, there was the opportunity to take some long exposure pictures. I liked this one of Stop Lock Bridge on the Old Birmingham Canal.
Packwood House lifted the gloomy grey weather with a display of colourful Christmas decorations. Trees and plants around the house and gardens were adorned with hand made ornaments and baubles. Shelves had displays of miniature nutcracker soldiers. There were colourful Christmas wreaths on the gates to the garden and doors to the house. The wonderful display lifted the spirits. Here are a few photographs taken around the house for you to enjoy Merry Christmas.
The entrance to the House with two Christmas TreesDecorated Christmas TreesAnother view of the front entrance to the house.Christmas decorationsLoving the Tinsel in a glass jar. Great touch to the decorations.Wreaths on the garden gatesChristmas wreath with the lake and extensive grounds in the backgroundDecorations in the Kitchen GardenDetail of the decorationsLooking quiet before ChristmasPre Christmas walks at Packwood
The snow started falling on a Saturday morning and it was settling on the ground. Seeing the conditions, I gritted my teeth and decided to head out in the cold. There could be some good pictures of Knowle village in the snow. Venturing out in the windy cold conditions was not fun. Being cold and wet, I took my Fuji x100v which is weather proofed and wandered around the High Street taking pictures. Even though I had camera gloves on, with only the tips of the thumb and first finger exposed, I was getting very cold. However it was disappointing as the snow had turned to rain and there was little of the white stuff around. I decided to call it a day and when I got back to my car, I was soaked. Sitting in the car, I noticed that a thick snow blizzard had started. I decided to be brave and I returned to the High Street for a second time. My decision this time was to use my iPhone13. Going to the northern end of the High street, I started taking pictures and slowly advanced towards the church at the opposite end of the road. The temperature had dropped and the driving swirling snow was making it difficult to see what was happening. My finger tips were numb so it was difficult to know whether the camera had taken any pictures. I was also shivering and the iPhone was continually slipping out of gloves. I returned to the car more soaked than before and came home.
Snow swirling around the shopsLittle traffic and the pictures take on a timeless quality.Knowle Church in the Snow
When I saw my iPhone pictures, I realised that I had captured some magical Christmas card snow scenes. I did have some camera shake on one or two of the pictures but the majority were good. The reactions on social media were very positive. I made the long list of #sharemondays2021 and await the results of several other competitions where I submitted the pictures. I am really glad I did brave the conditions! Seeing the pictures made it all worthwhile!
Without the cars, this scene could be from the Dickens Christmas Carol period.
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 EveryoneThe Cathedral looking prettywith Reindeers and a TreeFuturistic Christmas Tree in the CubeMerry Christmas – Mailbox StyleThe Custard Factory looking festiveSnow House at the Bull Ring
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.
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