Selfridges on Flickr.
Its a very long time since I’ve visited the bullring - 1992 was the last time I was there, I’d been to a James concert in Manchester and we were travelling back on a National Express coach back home to Greenwich. It was around this time of year and the weather turned - in fact turned so much that the police shut the M6 - all the coaches got diverted to Birmingham bus station where we spent much of the day - actually we found a pub just round the corner from the bullring. The roads didn’t open and we spent the night sleeping under a table in city hall with red cross food parcels and fine bone china !!! It was an experience for sure. Its difficult to remember what the bullring was like then - it was cold, the big round building was there - but the rest of it shabby to say the least.
Today’s a different story though - Birmingham’s gone up market. I’ve been wanting to visit birmingham for ages - of course Selfridges was a big draw - but surely there must be something else there too - so I decided to take a trip up and have an explore. I’m afraid there’s potentially a few of this facade - I know its been taken a million times - but it really is rather striking.
The day was cold and seriously overcast - by 9am (having arrived at 7am) I could have called it a day - seriously chilled to the bone, but I grabbed a coffee warmed up and went exploring a bit more. In the end I quite enjoyed my day there - there’s a couple of shots I wasn’t able to get so I’ll be back at some point. For now a mini series follows.
Oh - and I’ve been playing at the higher end of the histogram. I see lots of dark black architecture images - I’m guilty of that too - and some of them do look stunning but I’m keen to explore the other end - the end that we usually get in the UK and taking shots with completely overcast skies.
Quick question - is the reflection of the cathedral distracting? I quite liked it I thought it added a sense of reality perhaps - but I have one where this is not there - would be interested in your views.
Fishing Tours on Flickr.
A few weeks ago I popped down to Dungeness for the first time with a few freinds. It was cold and bleak and pretty much how I’d expected Dungeness. It was a Sunday and we arrived early for sunrise - and I just fell in love with the place pretty much immediately - it was like my part of the coast in Suffolk but on a much grander scale - but and it was big but, the place was heaving - well relatively speaking there were so many fishermen there and whilst the place itself was how I imagined it - the atmosphere was far from it. I’d taken the following day off and I thought I’d do a bit of a tour around Kent - but the weather looked good so I went back - wow what a transformation - the place was empty not a sole around - this is how I’d imagined Dungeness.
This is 4 shot panorama with a house - probably familiar to most but it really captivated me. I’ve no idea if anyone lives here - it doesn’t matter I just loved the ramshackle feel which summed up much of Dungeness.
silence on Flickr.
An uncharacteristic shot from me, but we so very rarely get snow that I just had to go out and capture it while it was here. I was hoping to go out today but the forecast snow just hasn’t arrived, maybe later. I must say I always look forward to the snow arriving and doubly so this year - for Christmas I received a copy of Winter by Jeffrey Conley, what a totally inspirational book. If you don’t know Jeffrey’s work - well go and get the book while you can its amazing, his images have such beauty and are so quiet, still and calm.
As for this shot - its taken in Tunstall Forest in Suffolk. Its a 5 stitch panorama towards the end of the day. It was great just wandering through the forest - people had been and gone by the time I got there so I had it all to myself, it was so quiet so peaceful, as I was taking this shot something made me turn round and the deer were passing behind me someway off but so silently.
2012 on Flickr.
Well at this time of year I like to look back at the year if nothing more to remind myself what I’ve been doing. Its been one of ups and downs both photographically and elsewhere, but I have to say the ups this year have outweighed the downs, in no particular order:
- I’ve experimented more than ever
- I’ve learnt to develop film
- I have a new camera
- I’ve learnt to manually focus
- I cracked my ribs trying to get that last photo
- I smashed my camera / lens / tripod to smithereens
- I shot lots with my Rollieflex
- I was runner up in LPOTY (urban)
- I was paid by a magazine for some shots
- I grew a beard
- I’ve travelled
- I met old friends
- I met new friends
- I lost touch with people
- I’ve been in so much pain I cried - twice
- I took lots of pictures and published very few
- I’ve started a long term project
- I’ve been to the beach very rarely and took very few seascapes
- I moved to google+, and then back again to flickr
- I was published in magazines and a couple of books too
So all in all its been an eventful year, one that I’ve really enjoyed, but I didn’t hit my goals for the year although they probably weren’t that realistic.
As for next year who knows, I do have some goals for the year - hopefully they’re more realistic and more achievable.
Trinity Bridge 4 on Flickr.
This is the fourth installment of the Trinity Bridge Study from Manchester a few weeks ago
Trinity Bridge 3 on Flickr.
This is the third in a short series of shots of Trinity Bridge in Manchester.
Originally I had this as a landscape shot with the bridge on the left hand side and lots of negative space on the right. I liked it, it was different but perhaps not everyones cup of tea, so I present this here in a more traditional square crop
Trinity Bridge 1 on Flickr.
This is the first in a short series of shots of Trinity Bridge in Manchester. I’ve long been a fan of the architect Santiago Calatrava, but until my trip to Manchester I’d never seen one of his creation in real life. I believe this is his only structure in the UK so I decided to go and spend a couple of days shooting around Manchester - the draw being this, the Imperial War Museum and a few other buildings and bridges. But its this one that really caught my eye. Its sandwiched between a whole load of other buildings but I was lucky with the right angle, clear(ish) blue sky - with a dash of direct sunlight I could really isolate and abstract this from its surroundings. As I’ve tried to make this a study all of the images are processed in the same way
Gherkin on Flickr.
A few years ago I published a shot which I entitled Finally - the Gherkin - it had taken me ages to get a shot that I really liked. The building is wonderful its shape so curvaceous - but its this very shape that made it so difficult to shoot. The shot was straight up to the top with the clouds whizzing over head. I was really pleased to get the shot. But over time I’ve looked at it and grown to think that the shot really didn’t do the building justice - it didn’t show off the beauty. So since then I’ve hunted all over the city for that view - and I’d pretty much given up it just didn’t exist. That was until recently (well earlier this year) when a view opened up as the ever changing cityscape devoured another nondescript 60s building to be replaced - well by another probably nondescript office block. I’ve no idea how long this view will last below and the right the construction is well under way (one of the reasons for the long exposure) - but for now its there - I feel this shows off why I like the building so much.
weltschmerz 2 on Flickr.
More from my angst project. This is the Shard - 5 exposures all in camera on a single frame. Its shot in the fog which seem to be perfect conditions for multi-exposures. I’m still learning about multi exposure photography of what works and what doesn’t - I’ve had some preconceived ideas about what should work - but having taken the shots they just don’t - More London is a good case in point. Anyway will be carrying on with this for a little while and see where it takes me.
Inauguration on Flickr.
I’m pleased to announce that this shot was ‘Highly Commended’ by the judges of the Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2012 competition in the Urban Category. Hugely chuffed about this. It’s going to be on display as a printed copy at the National Theatre in London from the 12th November until the 12th January 2013. The shot also appeared in yesterdays Sunday Times - which is just fabulous - over the moon.
Apparently the book is out already - I haven’t seen a copy - but judging from the shots in the Times yesterday its going to be fabulous - some really amazing shots - very much looking forward to seeing them.
As for the shot - well this was pretty much the last shot before my ill fated trip to the bottom of the Thames on the Shard’s Inauguration night, so its the last shot I have with my D300 - which was smashed up in the fall. It was taken from across the river - slightly elevated along with hundreds of other photographers - I was surprised at just how many had turned out - it seems such a long time ago now.
