A family outing

I went to my family home for the weekend in Birmingham with promises of great photo opportunities. How could I resist? I find this as tempting an offer as the amazing home cooked food and the open fire. We were going to Longbridge where there has been huge amounts of demolition and degeneration after MG Rover collapsed, which resulted in almost 6,000 job losses. This is just one of the satellite views using google maps.

We were armed with two SLR digital camera’s, two iPhones and a tripod. We also had the aid of a ladder, silly hats and an umbrella. The below photograph was taken and edited by my Brother, Theo.

I had such a great time! The weather wasn’t great but it was so much fun regardless. I got to experiment with my camera and do something a bit different.

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The sight was amazingly vast and this strange orangey red colour. You could just make out where the foundations had been. Driving around all of Longbridge reminds you of some kind of post apocalyptic town. The train station is abandoned and there are loads of locked gates to non-places.

The day job

Whilst walking past one of the meeting rooms at work I spotted these sofa’s piled on top of each other. I had heard whisperings that there is a concern that they will be thrown out during the refurbishment. I am hoping that they will go to a better home, however if they are thrown out on to the streets, I shall be the first to be there with my camera. I like to think of myself as the equivalent of the storm chasers in 90’s movie Twister, but with much much less risk taking!

The lift is boarded up with wood and gaffa tape. I think I prefer the way it looks now. More lifts should edge away from the traditional mental and mirror look.

A clock without hands

At Nottingham train station they have a clock with no hands. I thought this was a particularly peculiar place to have such an object as most of the people there would be waiting for a time to arrive. The clock would never provide the time and so people could just keep on waiting. (If by a freak occurrence no-one there owned watches or mobile phones!)

A clock without arms is surely just a circle or is it a symbol for the lack of time we feel we have, or don’t have. I liked it. It made me feel calm. Time wasn’t flying by. I was departing and had no-one to meet, so time was washing over me. I think more clocks should just be circles. It would make for a less pressured environment.

In a past office job of mine there used to be two clocks at either end of a corridor, both stopped still. One stated home time and the other stated lunch time. It was cruel, as my mind would always register them even though I knew they were broken and wrong. This corridor showed the time you wanted it to be but it was only right twice a day. On reflection I should have made them handless.

Chairs and tubes

On Sunday, after a huge Sunday lunch I spotted a chair with a cardboard tube on it. This was a joyous combination for me!

I think I would like to show these photos as a collection or give the image a new lease of life by printing it on other things that are viewed as useful. I would like to complete my map too so you could see where they were located.