The changing face of Birmingham
Myself and my wife spent a little time in the UK over the Christmas and New Year gap, it was a fairly frantic trip that took in the North East, North West and the Midlands. It had been a long time since I had spent any time in the UK and even longer for my wife, I had genuinely forgotten how beautiful the English countryside is, unfortunately I witnessed it all through the window of a car, bus or train. The first chance to bear out my camera was on a Birmingham Photo Walk, the City I was born in and called home for many years.
I had planned two photo walks, the first on the evening of New Years Day, that was cut very short due to the fact that it was heaving with rain. So we indulged in a great Birmingham institution, a beer and a curry and headed back to our hotel with better hopes for the 2nd day and as you can see from the images the weather certainly did not disappoint. Birmingham is a much maligned city, everything from the accent to the architecture is ridiculed in the media, yet that is neither the Birmingham I remember or witnessed on my short 2 day stop over.
Modern Architecture of the Selfridges store at the Bull Ring in Birmingham
Selfridges Store Abstract Form
As a City Birmingham has a reputation for being a concrete jungle and in parts it certainly was when I was growing up, but the City has undergone renovation after renovation and in many places is unrecognisable from the City I was bought up in. My first port of call was the Bull Ring Shopping centre, not least as my wife discovered that her coat was far from waterproof the evening before and we needed to buy a new one!
I distinctly remember the ‘new’ Bull Ring development being planned and built and whilst the majority of it is an atypical shopping centre that could be anywhere the Selfridges building always stood out as a shining beacon. As you may imagine a building with such an odd form was controversial to say the least. However I always loved it, probably principally for being different but in my mind it sill stands up today as an amazing piece of architecture.I only took up photography after I left the UK as a way to show our friends and family how we lived our lives in deepest darkest Hungary, so this is the first time I have had an opportunity to shoot this building and spent far too long playing!
The Gas Street Basin Tow path in Birmingham City Centre
The Cube, Gas Street Basin
Next on our stroll around my old hunting ground was a stroll along the Gas street Canal Basin, it was here I noticed something a little surprising… Reflections, considering Birminghams reputation as being a concrete Jungle, I certainly spent a great deal of time featuring reflections in the images from my Birmingham Photo Walk. Those reflections were not just in the canal, Birmingham seems to have become a glass clad building paradise. From the older iterations that I remember growing up, like the International Convention Centre and the Hyatt Hotel, through to the confusing new layout, to me at least, of the new office blocks behind Snow Hill Rail Way Station.
Whilst I am talking about the canal I am obliged to mention that Birmingham has more miles of canal than Venice, I genuinely have no idea if this is true but it is an obligation one has when born in Birmingham to say something along these lines ;) The canals in the city centre really have undergone an incredible change in the last 20 years, from dark in hospitable places they are not the place to both socialise and to live!
Convention centre abstract, reflected in the Grand Union Canal in Birmingham
We had a busy afternoon and evening planned meeting with family in the afternoon and friends in the evening before flying back to Budapest the following day, so the final ‘stop’ on my Birmingham Photo Walk was to take a ‘gander’ at the new Library building. It is a building I have heard much about and seen images of, however I really was not that impressed, strip of he cladding and what you have left is a fairly ordinary looking slab sided building that is very reminiscent of the old library.
New modern Library in Birmingham city centre reflected in the International Convention Centre
Having said that it does look pretty cool reflected in the International Convention Centre (above), I did a couple of Hundred more pictures on our brief stroll that I am sure will appear in various guises as time progresses. However for now I will sign off this blog post with the simple thought that whilst it was great to head back to the UK and see family and friend but the joy of being home in the peace and quiet of our little corner in Hungary is much nicer!
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Post Modern Facade of the largest public Library in the United Kingdom in Birmingham
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