Birmingham rediscovered

I've recently had the opportunity to revisit Birmingham city centre several times, in particular for their German Christmas market, and can't fail to be impressed by some of the modern architecture and the way some buildings are lit. I discovered a tribute to Tony Hancock on Corporation Street, some interesting lighting outside the Bull Ring, and of course the iconic Selfridge's building is now an instantly recognisable landmark. There's a brooding statue by Antony Gormley at the western end of New Street. My favourite area is probably the Gas street basin area, with the Ikon Gallery, shops, reastaurants and canalside walks. Another thing is that the centre is remarkably compact and really you can walk from one side to the other in a few minutes.

Photography exhibitions in Norwich

It's been encouraging to find there have been two photography exhibitions on recently in Norwich. First of all the Flickr Norwich UK group organised an exhibition of members' work in a vacant shop unit in a prominent part of Norwich's Castle Mall shopping centre last month - which is still running - and secondly in the Forum there was a one week exhibition of the winning and shortlisted entries in the 'Norwich 12' competition. This was designed to find creative and original views of twelve heritage buildings in the city centre; the winning shots of each building will feature in a series of postcards. I'm always happy to see amateur photographers being encouraged to produce and display their work, and if it generates additional interest in the many fine buildings in the city, all well and good.

I was pleased that my own entry (top picture on the display board) for photographs of Norwich City Hall - a fine listed building designed in the Scandinavian style - made the short list and hence was on display. The launch evening for the exhibition was a great chance to talk with some of the other exhibitors about their photographs and to bounce some ideas around. I hope there will be another Norwich 12 competition this summer!

The Westman Islands

Of the Westman Islands, just off the south-west coast of Iceland, Vestmannaeyjar is an enthralling place to visit. The town of Heimaey was subjected to a volcanic eruption from Mount Edfell in 1973 that resulted in a substantial part of the island being covered by lava. When you visit today the scenery is dramatic, with the ash-covered hillsides and their beautiful flora, the dramatic and rugged cliffs teeming with puffins, the colourful town itself, and one of the most picturesque golf courses in the world.

One a day's visit I just had time to make a circuit of the volcano, have a look at the golf course and spend some time walking round the town and the harbourside area. We arrived by a launch from our cruise ship and had most of the day in Heimaey.

Of course I loved everything about the place, but the fish processing factories were so atmospheric. Just taking pictures of ordinary residential streets was appealing as well. The changing light and the low cloud produced an extraordinary kind of setting and the pictures I've selected here will hopefully convey some of that. On seeing a few of my pictures of this place, a photography tutor exclaimed "I want to go there!". Such is the enignatic quality of the place. It deserves another visit and another attempt to capture the unique atmosphere.

On the inside, looking out

I really think the opportunity to take photographs from a moving vehicle is one not to be missed. Whenever I get the chance I like to take internal and external shots: internal ones of fellow passengers, signs or other interior details, external ones of the passing landscape, the transition zones between urban and rural, the effects of speed.

These are a few of the shots I took on the bus between Helsinki and Porvoo, and on the train between Helsinki and Tampere last October. Partly it’s a liking for a record of the fleeting and impermanent shot, partly a record of landscapes impossible to capture any other way, partly the ease of taking pictures of whatever passes by. Reflections and out of focus shots only add to the character of a collection of impromptu snatched pictures. String enough of these together and you would have a unique travelogue of the journey, the passenger’s view, the inside looking out.

Helsinki central railway station

It’s general practice in Finland to find all the signs in both Finnish and Swedish, both being official languages. The magnificent Helsinki Central railway station (rautatieasema in Finnish and järnvägsstation in Swedish) is a widely recognised landmark in central Helsinki and the focal point focal public transport in the Greater Helsinki area. The granite exterior is notable for the two pairs of statues holding spherical lamps, and its clock tower (the statues are featured, for instance, on the covers of local timetables published by the country’s national rail operator, VR).
The station’s interior, besides its beautiful high ceilinged booking halls and wide concourses, has a good range of shops, cafes and bars, and entrances to the underground shopping complexes linked with the Kamppi store and other key points in the commercial centre. From the central station the trains rush out to the north, past Töölönlahti Bay and quickly reaching Pasila and on though the suburbs of Helsinki

It’s also a great place for people watching, with commuters coming and going between the trains, the connecting buses, and the city centre itself. I took quite a few informal shops near the cafes and ticket offices. And what really interested me were some of the quirky things going on – like the display below, some kind of art school project, I think, and the notes stuck to a pillar (I couldn’t figure these out, maybe they were advertisements). There were stalls selling berries and other fruits. It's a very pleasant atmosphere, as main railway stations go.

A walk around Töölölahti Bay

Töölölahti Bay and its surroundings are one of Helsinki's most distinctive attractions, and there is much to interest the photographer. It's only a short walk north of the city centre. Until you reach the railway bridge just outside the central station it seems like a lake - then it's apparent that it's really an inlet. Walking and jogging round the bay is a popular activity: beginning from near the Alvar Aalto designed Finlandia Hall www.finlandiatalo.fi overlooking the bay there's an extensive network of paths fringed by silver birches and (unexpectedly) outcrops of rock. Nordic walking poles are much in evidence. It's a pleasant place for a stroll on afine autumn day.

Setting off anticlockwise you soon cross the railway bridge (a chance to watch the constant procession of red and white trains entering and leaving Helsinki) and reach the beautiful ornate wooden villas of Linnunlaulu set on a rocky rise above the eastern banks of the bay - and a fine viewpoint. An art park was created around the bay as part of Helsinki's celebration of European Cty of Culture in 2000.



I carried on walking to the east of the railway tracks and down along the edge of the Elantarharlahti bay towards Kallio Berghall and the shops and market at Hakaneimi, but follow the Linnunlaulu houses to the Helsinginkatu and return past the Finnish National Opera House www.opera.fi or continu further to take a look at the Olympic Stadium (the Games were held in 1952). The stadium's tower now houses a budget priced hostel for travellers.

Not far away you may come across the welcoming and well stocked Arkadia Oy bookshop on Pohjonen Hesperiankatu, a fine place to stop off on the way, maybe, to the Sibelius Monument among the silver birchesa and perched on a rocky outcrop looking westwards across the bay towards Seurasaari island.

Tampere's Vapriikki Museum

Tampere has an excellent museum in the Vapriikki: several museums in one. I wanted to include a couple of photographs from the Shoe Museum and the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame. See www.tampere.fi/vapriikki for more. I didn't get to see the photo archives, among the country's largest archives of historical photographs. The building is what used to be the engineering works of Tampella Ltd., on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids. I spent a very pleasant hour and a half on a whistle stop tour of the main exhibits..........first the Shoe Museum.

No problems with getting the camera out, which is always a good thing. And it was hardly crowded.

In my next post I will be returning to some of my favourite parts of Helsinki.