The New Birmingham Library

[NannyFerret]

It's well worth a visit, even if it's just to take pics.
There are two Balcony's running half way around the building which have been made into gardens with seating for you to lounge and relax or take in the view of the city, and to take pics.
We only got to the first balcony as there were so many people waiting for the glass lift and normal lifts which take over from the escalators that  finish at a certain floor.

In the first pic you can see the first balcony and the higher one above and you can see how big the building is from the scale of the people.
We are hoping to go to the higher balcony to see what other Ariel shots that I get get, but we will wait a while and try to go on a weekday when it might not be as packed as it was yesterday.

The inside shots shows just how many books there are housed in the library, as this is only a tiny proportion of the amount housed on each floor.

All shot with my 35mm lens and Nikon D3200 camera.

 

Below is a selection of the shots that I got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul]

Looks fascinating. I hope that glass rail is enough to stop people leaning - I'd be pooping myself so high up!

 

Terrific views, especially towards the BT tower.

 

Paul.

[FUJI]

Hi, Nanny,

 

One of your best sets yet.................Your Urban scene technique is top notch:

 

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

I was glad to be able to see the new Bull Ring a few years, ago, and I still lived in Brum when they built the Conference Centre and began to revamp Broad Street.

 

I guess I'll never be able to visit the new Library, but one of my childhood friends was the guy in charge of the whole project, the Chief Librarian there. The "old" Library it replaces was also pretty awesome inside, but looked like sh*t on the outside.

 

You've done it justice Tina.

[NannyFerret]

Thanks all.

 

Bugs, there is a bar about a ft away on the ground so maybe that's to stop people from leaning too heavily on the barrier. Mind you, I managed to get both feet squeezed behind it for a better view. 

 

Fuji, I didn't think I had a technique as I don't usually shoot buildings  . I am proud that I hardly ever use anything but manual settings these days, though.
I can't wait to see what I can do from the higher balcony.

 

Chris, It's a shame that you are so far away. You would be amazed at it.  
I have a couple of shots with the cranes in the back ground. I think  these are the ones working on the second half of New Street Station.

[Kobione]

Great set, Nanny! Don't think I'd like to be too close to the glass barrier either!!

[NannyFerret]

Great set, Nanny! Don't think I'd like to be too close to the glass barrier either!!

Thanks Dee,

It felt quite safe and I was leaning the camera on it to get a steady shot, although the light was pretty good anyway.

[Dennyboy]

Hi Nannyferret, only seen the library on the local news, i want to go and shoot it now! Birmingham gets bad press but there are lots of interesting buildings and you have captured them well and done them justice. Here is a set i took a few years back now so need to go back!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennyboy/sets/72157622916319716/

Nice job.

[Dennyboy]

Link didnt work whoops! Go to www.flickr.com/dennyboy and then sets and its there! Haven't got the hang of posting links yet!

[NannyFerret]

A Brilliant set, Denny.

I really enjoyed viewing them.
Do you live far away from Birmingham or the centre.

There is a lot of building going on at the moment, but I think it's going to be really good when it's finished.
I would like to go up on the library balcony with a tripod or Monopod when the nights draw in more so that I can get some shots of the lights in the building etc. Whether we will go or not will be down to how we feel and the cold weather.

[Dennyboy]

About 5 miles or 30-40 mins if a week day, 10 min sunday! those were taken on a Sunday morning before anyone arrived and progressively during the day. The old library was a concrete carbuncle, fortunately they didn't make it listed and did the kind thing and demolished it!

[NannyFerret]

No too far then.
I didn't notice if it was open on a Sunday. I will have to check that as it just might be possible to get on the lift to the top balcony if it was quieter. 

[ChrisLumix]

Brum is wrongly maligned. Even when I first lived there (1970s) there were some great places to go, even though the actual city centre back then was a heap of hooey. Now the centre is one of the standout places in Britain, I'd say - from the new Bull Ring, up the pedestrianised New Street to the Town Hall, Science Museum, Chamberlain Square, the new Library, the Rep, the Conference Centre, Broad Street, the Gas Street Basin...

[NannyFerret]

The canals are lovely.
We sometimes take some lunch and flask and sit by the basin to eat it. It makes a change from Coventry.

Today we went to a place called "Eat for less" in Paradise Forum.

John had two thick sandwiches and I had a large filled baguette + two hot drinks and it came to a few pence over £4. Lovely food and a decent place to sit and about half the price of the same in Coventry.

[Dennyboy]

I am from the black country not Birmingham, however Birmingham sometimes gets a bad press. It's actually quite a nice city with very good events and facilities etc the canals are full of photographic opportunities

[NannyFerret]

Oh right. We used to visit a friend every week who lived in Oldbury.
It was a long trek from Coventry with bus, train and bus again, and the same to get home again.

[Dennyboy]

I come from wednesbury but now live in west Bromwich, here is a different urban shot 5 miles from the shiny city centre of Birmingham.

[FUJI]

Bostin! Absolutely Bostin!.........Youm grate yow .......ar kid.

No, don't panic, I did my teacher training in Willenhall in ......The Black Country.......so it was easy to convert my flat Warwickshire vowels into broad dialect.........also, over the years travelling the Midlands demonstrating my craft, I reckon I can pinpoint the area of the a West Midlands or Warwickshire a speaker comes from by just listening to their accent.

I must admit to having a sinking feeling as I travel from Kenilworth to Birmingham, the approaches are horrible, but once in the City Centre things improve.......we eat in the Chinese Quarter, where many if the British/Chinese choose to eat.

I did one of my nine month placements in Willenhall, used to walk back and forth between there and my digs in Westfield Road Wolverhampton......I was studying close by there..........Great people.....West Midlanders.

[Dennyboy]

Yeah accents and personalities totally different in different areas of the midlands. Cultural diversity it's called now! Used to be them brummy bleeders!i do miss the old industry that's long gone as i am a qualified engineer and its sad to see no real things being made now.

[NannyFerret]

I have connections to the Black Country, Birmingham etc. too.

My Gran was born in Dudley and when she married, live in Knowle until she died.
My Aunty lived in Shirley and I have cousins around that area and solihull still. I haven't been in touch with them for years though.

We go to the Chinese Quarter when they celebrate the Chinese New year, and the Chinese people make you so welcome and share the festivities as if you were one of them.

[Korky]

A very nice set of photos - looks good.

 

Liverpool similarly gets a bad press, but I think it's a lovely city. A great place to bimble around with a camera.

 

Korky

[NannyFerret]

My daughter has been to Liverpool and really enjoyed it. I have never been, even though my dad was born there.
He was quite young (about ten) when they moved to Balsall Common so didn't have an accent.

[ChrisLumix]

I am from the black country not Birmingham, however Birmingham sometimes gets a bad press. It's actually quite a nice city with very good events and facilities etc the canals are full of photographic opportunities

 

My Black Country friends used to crack me up. Tipton, if you were in Sedgley (about a mile away), was "another planet", while Birmingham (7 miles?) was "round the corner" (or "up the 'oss road").

 

Mind you, to everyone, Black Country or Brummie alike, Lower Gornal really WAS another planet. Someone said a bus once went there, but no-one saw it come back again. And somewhere in Sandwell a  friend took me to see 'The Lost City', which was a council estate set in a dip with the streets arranged in circles, one within another. There was just one road in and out, and the police apparently never went there. Rumours of in-breeding and god knows what else. We just looked down on it from a hill; I wanted to explore but my friend said "You must be joking!".

 

I worked in Wednesbury for a year, in the 1980s. There was a chip shop there that served fish and chips that really did taste "just like you remember as a kid". When I mentioned this to the proprietor he said "Ar. We still use the traditional fat not the vegetable oil rubbish that everyone else uses now".

 

I saw the speedway a couple of times at Cradley Heath. There was still the odd chain-maker there, but probably all gone now.

 

There was some debate about whether or not Halesowen was actually in the Black Country, but all my friends swore blind that Wolverhampton was NOT. Mind you, you didn't tell the inhabitants that...

 

The Black Country Museum is an actual must-see for anyone who hasn't been there. On the other hand, if you watched the Poliakoff drama "Dancing On The Edge" early this year, then you already HAVE seen it : the BCM's "Bottle and Glass" pub was used for several scenes.

[NannyFerret]

I've heard that the Black Country Museum is very good. One day we might go.

I have also heard that the Sandwell nature reserve is very good too.

[Dennyboy]

My Black Country friends used to crack me up. Tipton, if you were in Sedgley (about a mile away), was "another planet", while Birmingham (7 miles?) was "round the corner" (or "up the 'oss road").

 

Mind you, to everyone, Black Country or Brummie alike, Lower Gornal really WAS another planet. Someone said a bus once went there, but no-one saw it come back again. And somewhere in Sandwell a  friend took me to see 'The Lost City', which was a council estate set in a dip with the streets arranged in circles, one within another. There was just one road in and out, and the police apparently never went there. Rumours of in-breeding and god knows what else. We just looked down on it from a hill; I wanted to explore but my friend said "You must be joking!".

 

I worked in Wednesbury for a year, in the 1980s. There was a chip shop there that served fish and chips that really did taste "just like you remember as a kid". When I mentioned this to the proprietor he said "Ar. We still use the traditional fat not the vegetable oil rubbish that everyone else uses now".

 

I saw the speedway a couple of times at Cradley Heath. There was still the odd chain-maker there, but probably all gone now.

 

There was some debate about whether or not Halesowen was actually in the Black Country, but all my friends swore blind that Wolverhampton was NOT. Mind you, you didn't tell the inhabitants that...

Halesowen and Wolverhampton are not the black country, a saying when i was a kid (politically incorrect warning) about the lost city in Tipton was "if yow live theer, if yow has 2 ears yowm a puff"

 

The Black Country Museum is an actual must-see for anyone who hasn't been there. On the other hand, if you watched the Poliakoff drama "Dancing On The Edge" early this year, then you already HAVE seen it : the BCM's "Bottle and Glass" pub was used for several scenes.

  

I've heard that the Black Country Museum is very good. One day we might go.

I have also heard that the Sandwell nature reserve is very good too.

The museum is used for peaky blinders on bbc2 currently on thursday nights www.flickr.com/dennyboy there is a black country photo set. Also i live 500 yards from sandwell valley and it is gorgeous. I walk my dog there all the time. Loads of images on my flickr site, worth a visit