The other weekend I was offered a great opportunity to improve my photography skills, with the help of an expert professional photographer, thanks to Goodman Business Parks. The aim of the workshop was to focus on the modern and historic architecture, around Birmingham City Centre, using the photography opportunities they present to help us improve and refine our photography skills. Birmingham has a lot of fine buildings, both old and new, so there was plenty of material to capture on camera. There was plenty to catch the eye and we were all soon snapping away.
We started out exploring the mix of old and new that is Victoria Square in Birmingham, where the Victorian Council House meets the Floozie in the Jacussi. Then onto one of Birmingham’s newest landmark buildings, the new library,which has become a tourist attraction. Lunch saw us head in the direction of the Bullring Shopping Centre. After a lovely Italian lunch, we felt ready to tackle one of the city’s most famous buildings: Selfridges. Now lots of photographers have taken pictures of this distinctive architecture, so it was a bit daunting to try to find a new angle or a distinctive shot.
I experimented with a few different shots and varying distances, but found my groove when we got up close and personal with the decorative disks, that adorn the building. Exploring the reflective qualities of the disks was something that I concentrated on and I loved the way the clouds in the sky were echoed in reflection. Most of pictures were taken on my husband’s new point and shoot camera, but learning more about photography through the day, made me wish I’d taken the plunge to get a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera). I think it brought home to me what I could potentially achieve with better equipment. That said, I didn’t desert my usual camera of choice: my iPhone (used so often because it’s always there). This last picture was the best of the day from the iPhone and it seemed to go down well on Instagram.
Amazing photos and a pretty awesome building! x