The Birmingham Library

[Craftysnapper]

I have not been far from the house since my eye trouble (balance issues) but cabin fever and a itchy shutter finger got the better of me and I got on the tram to Birmingham to have a look at the new library.

 

The last time I was in Brum they had not quite finished it so I was interested to see the interior, it was quite impressive, managed to take a few snaps before setting back, knocked me about but I enjoyed it.

 

From the outside,the modern building.

 

 

 

 

 

[FUJI]

Well done you..........having eye problems myself just now I fully appreciate what you say about cabin fever and forcing yourself out, never mind using a camera.

Love these shots, that building is very impressive, it makes the senses tingle, I had similar feelings when I went into the Tate Gallery in St Ives in Cornwall. The new Coventry Cathedral is another must for architectural photographers, so many different angles, superb light and shadow according to the time if day.....never mind the Art Works all around.

A question? Do you need to request permission to take photographs inside the new Library? .......I ask, because it's not all that long ago, that I was innocently using my first M4/3 Camera for the first time in Coventry City Centre, when I was stopped and questioned as if I were criminal by a pair of security guards. I won't repeat the whole story again, but I was thoroughly rattled, extremely upset, I haven't been back to Coventry since.

FUJI

[Korky]

I really like the look of the new library, but I expect that quite a few folk will see it as another modern carbuncle!

 

The first shot is very nice indeed.

 

Korky

[FUJI]

I really like the look of the new library, but I expect that quite a few folk will see it as another modern carbuncle!

The first shot is very nice indeed.

Korky

Hi, Korky,

This brand spanking new award winning building a Modern Carbuncle???

Just take a deco at the REAL 1960s horror that it has just replaced.......

http://thebirminghampress.com/?attachment_id=36591

And, some daft buggers are trying to save it from demolition.........those Flower-Power so called architects should have been stopped in their tracks, so much of their stuff was absolute trash, and has been demolished in cities like Coventry and Birmingham.

Always puzzles me, as to why cities in France, Germany and Italy retain their pre war beauty whilst England seemed ben on destroying everything the nazis didn't Blitz.

Good to learn that Matron has let you out on to the veranda, but only after you returned her underwear.............I bet wearing them as a nightcap didn't help?

FUJI

[Korky]

You're right, that old library is dreadful - the town where I live has a building like that, a 1960s concrete monstrosity. At least they don't build 'em any more!

 

Things are quiet here at the mo - I'm lying low and pretending to be unwell. I won't hijack this thread further!

 

Korky

[Guest]

Thanks Fuji, I did not see any no photography notices so did not ask.

 

But saying that I walked in with the little mft camera round my neck and as I was using the tilting screen at waist level and not to my eye or held arms outstretched I doubt anyone noticed, but then I was used to using a Rolliflex for years.

 

Thank you Korky.

[ChrisLumix]

Hi, Korky,

This brand spanking new award winning building a Modern Carbuncle???

Just take a deco at the REAL 1960s horror that it has just replaced.......

http://thebirminghampress.com/?attachment_id=36591

And, some daft buggers are trying to save it from demolition.........those Flower-Power so called architects should have been stopped in their tracks, so much of their stuff was absolute trash, and has been demolished in cities like Coventry and Birmingham.

 

Mid-1970s, actually Fuj - I was living there at the time, when they knocked down a perfectly good Victorian building with pillared portico and dome, to replace it with THAT. (Great inside, superb library, but as you say, externally a horror.) That concrete monstrosity had absolutely nothing, nothing at all, to do with Flower Power; you could blame Le Corbusier and the Modernist movement, except that their vision was a lot less brutal than that.

[NannyFerret]

Smashing shots, Paul.

Did you make it on to the two balcony? It's a brilliant view and a must for pics.

Fuji, There were lots of people with cameras when John and myself went and I was openly taking pics. There were no signs about photography, and I had my DSLR around my neck in full view.