top of the maintain: November 2012

Assignment – location
THE MAILBOX Birmingham (city center)

SETTINGS

Camera- D90

F-STOP f/3, exposure- 1/250 sec, ISO- 2000, NO FLASH

below are the 3 images used for the above image

all are taken

by me

at the mailbox

Birmingham

above the cube building

History –background of the mailbox in brief

The Royal Mail was the sorting office of the mail.

Chatham purchased the building in 1998 for £3 million. He also paid a further £1 million for the surrounding, the water front buildings.^[

Soon after purchasing the building, he sold the air-rights to Crosby homes, providing him with further money for redeveloping the building.

The building was converted by the Birmingham Development Company to include two hotels with a total of 300 rooms, 15,850 sq. M, of office space, 9,290 sq. m of retail space and a similar area for restaurants and a health club.

Crosby Homes constructed apartments above that space. The
re-development of the sorting office involved demolition of all but the steel sub-structure and cost £150 million overall and opened in December 2000.

Following the purchase of two retail units by Harvey Nichol's, the development was valued to be in excess of £125 million.

A public square, the size of chamberlain square was created to the front of the Mailbox beneath Suffolk Street Queensway. It was paved with natural stones and also a social area. It was also designed to allow easy movement of visitors to, from and around the building. The area to the rear of the building is used frequently by the public. At the back of The Mailbox it is possible to walk over a bridge and walk along the canals near Gas Street Basin.

The Cube was the last phase of development at the Mailbox which was designed by a Birmingham born architect Ken Shuttleworth's

The Cube will house a rooftop restaurant, boutique hotel and residential apartments.

In 2004, BBC Birmingham moved into a new complex of studios at the Mailbox that replaced the previous Pebble site in Edgbaston.

( a visit was made but images were not put in, they also have a real dalek )

The general public is able to watch radio and television broadcasts being made at an all-access public foyer, as well as surf the BBC website and buy BBC merchandise, see where the morning breakfast new comes from and how the small room is made to look bigger plus you can do can practice weather forecast.

Some major stores within the Mailbox

Harvey Nichols, All Saints, Nicky Clarke, Huge Boss, Emporio Armani, Toni & Guy Essensuals.

Education and leisure places to visit within the mailbox

The BBC is open to the pubic for Tours for a small cost which started in January 2009. It offers a chance to the public to gain access to some TV and radio programmes broadcasting.

see images below,

Window displace of Harvey Nichols store, it is one of the first stores and the largest within the Mailbox

Make it a family fun day out or a weekend at the Mailbox. There are many things to chose from for example, a stroll along the edge of canal, stroll along GAS STREET, enjoy the fresh air and view the canal boats or even a visit to the
SEA-LIFE CENTER.

Bindley Place, The NATIONAL SEA-LIFE CENTER offers something for every one of all age groups, The Water's Edge
3 Brindley Place
Birmingham

There are many restaurants where you can enjoy a meal at a reasonable price or just have a take-a- away from TESCO.

NIGHT TIME IMAGE, UNDER-PATH WALK OF THE MAILBOX DEC,2012

On your lower left corner you can see the MAILBOX building and cameras on the top right hand corner for safety and use of expensive cameras

THE ABOVE, STEP IMAGES TAKEN ON A MORNING, RAINING DAY

the steps that take you to the MAILBOX, SHOPS, CARNAL, CUBS ETC.

both images have been in Photoshop, but the right had a colour change

ABOVE, STEP IMAGE TAKEN ON A DRY DULL DAY

WHICH TAKES YOU INTO THE MAILBOX

EARLY MORNING DAY TIME VIEW OF THE MAILBOX

above, on the left side of the image you can see the fly over of the under path

ONCE INSIDE THE MAILBOX, THE FIRST THING YOU SEE ARE THE ESCALATORS, THEY ARE ON EITHER SIDE GOING UP, AND ON EITHER SIDE IS HARVEY'S NICHOLS ENORMOUS STORE.

I have made the red oblong box red and brighter because it say's THE MAILBOX, it is a stand- by post that I only used the top section of it.

THIS IS A HARVEY'S NICHOLS WINDOW DISPLAY 2012 DEC, WITHIN THE MAILBOX

after improving the image, i further increased the red colour of the writhing to show its HARVEY'S NICHOLS WINDOW DISPLAY

TAKEN ON A WET , VERY COLD, RAINING MORNING,

THIS IMAGE IS OF THE GROUND FLOOR

The reflection of the xmas tree lights can be seen on the very wet ground

Fresh and crispy, clean and fresh, morning image,with curves and lines and the arches going into the distance.
there are no people to be seen as its early morning image, with the clean clear sky above.

this image is in full focus, therefore in full depth of field.

Fresh and crispy, clean early morning image, with all the buildings, canal etc.. is in full focus. The cubes can also be seen in the distance and the straight lines of the bright.

No people can be seen yet, due to the early morning, the clear white sky above can be seen without clouds

this image is in full focus, therefore in full depth of field.

same time as above but different area

START OF THE EVENING AND LATE EVENING IMAGES

IMAGE A

this above image was taken at the back of the mailbox towards Board Street near the ICC. It was taken around

5 pm in the beginning of January on a cold evening. The beauty of this image is the reflection in the water, the blueness of the sky reflection and the golden lights. The bold red colour of the canal boat stands out with rest of the colours in the image.

image B

Image A & B are similar, but B was taken 1/2 hour later than A. It has a more romantic feel to it due to, there is more orange light glowing on the pavement from the electrical lights, the reflection is also different in the canal from above, its more darker, calmer and a colder feel to it.

IMAGE C

this shows the a canal boat on the restaurant side and more reflection of the light blue colour in the water near the boat. This image is not 100% straight but i still liked it.

Very similar to the above but shows the full

This above image is a very busy image, it shows two boats on opposite side, the restaurant by the bridge, Broad Street in the distance, lots of people on the bright and lots of glowing of the lights with the light blue sky above on a cold evening.

This image gives a romantic feeling due to the golden glow of the lights.

The full length of the boat can be seen and the silver/ grey netting on the front of the boat give a contrast and shine to the front of the boat and the name of the boat can be seen clearly.

F

this image show the CUBES, so you know the canal Gas street basin is near the mailbox. The length of the boat can be seen more clearly with the arch behind the boat and the end of the canal plus the beauty of the golden reflection of the light on the boat just below the red coloured window frames of the boat, just looks great.
Also there are lost of triangles and straight lines the repletion of the pointed roof tops and on the subtle level rule of thirds.

this image above, the circle is the main focus point and the arch which has most of the space in the image, however, the TIE, GRADE A is the main building.

I mainly chose this image because of the circle as it reminded me of a water well and the beautiful reddish colour of the brick work.

this smaller but tie area image not in full colour as the above as it is slightly brighter

love this above image, even though its late evening and cold due to the oranges lights and the canal it gives a warm romantic feeling to the mind.

This above image is showing the water fall in a still motion which an idea I have taken from ADAM BURTON who I have used as one of my photography researchers.

the above image has a small depth of field, just like the one below but where you stand makes all the differences ie, the background should be blurry but the soil/ ground is blurry and the bulb of the plant is in focus is what i wanted.

The image is isolate from the soil and sharpness is there.

NOW IT IS ALSO THE START OF XMAS IMAGES DUE TO THE XMAS SEASON

MERRY XMAS

ABOVE, STREET XMAS DECORATION AND FATHER XMAS

Camera- D90

F-STOP f/3, exposure- 1/100 sec, ISO- 2000, NO FLASH

the above image has a small depth of field, ie, the background is blurry and the xmas bulb and one shot of the xmas tree is in focus .

The image and isolate every thing and bringing the xmas bulb and one tree shot in full sharpness.

the coke van, city centrer

FRONT VIEW

image taken, late evening, fully in focus, bright red with lights on the van makes it stand out and gives a warm Xmas spiritual atmosphere to the surrounding

SIDE VIEW WITH FATHER XMAS ON THE VAN

showing the side view of the van and father Xmas with a bottle of coke.

warm and orange tones and the orange reflection on the ground with the white xmas tress gives a nice feeling to the heart on a cold day

showing the trails of the cars, taken near the mailbox

warm orange and red trails and bluish white trails in the dark background with that brightens the image with light waves of lights and gives a happy feeling full of energy

brightens

showing short trails of the cars, taken by the mailbox traffic lights

zebra crossing by the MAILBOX

SNOW IMAGES

this above and below, image is fully in focus. It shows the fresh clean snow on the tree branches and its surrounding. It shows the beautiful umbrella like tree with a rich purplish/ brown colour.

from this image you can see this beautiful umbrella tree with a rich purplish/ brown colour is the only one there and the rest all surrounding it are all tall and with out any leaves.

LOWER VIEW

still fully in focus, the above, shows the tree at different side view with snow on the tree trunk and the fresh clean snow surrounding it.

TOP VIEW

UNDER THE TREE VIEW

FRONT VIEW UNDER THE TREE

fully in focus, shows the tree close up with more of the branches and the fresh snow on the beautiful umbrella tree.

TOP VIEW

this above and below, show the tree has been cut and it is started to grow in the new year, therefore it the summer it will have leaves.

FULL VIEW OF THE TREE

TREE ON ITS OWN

FILLED WITH SNOW YET THE LEAVES ARE ALIFE

FRESH WHITE COLOUR OF THE SNOW, RED BERRY'S AND GREENISH RED OF THE LEAVES AS WELL AS THE GREEN LEAVES

Pigeons and just one man early morning the pigeons are having there feed around 7.30am

5 pigeons, the reason the image has uneven number, the pigeons are in twos and the one in the centre is by a shoe.

the shoe can be seen clearly here

the above image, is showing 3 types of texture ie lines, and shades and tones and no colour, 1- snow,2-melted snow ie water, and 3 ice on the road.

the image below, have a small depth of field, ie, the background is blurry and the single leave is in full sharpness focus, so your eye is drawn to it first.

The image 5 images below are the way they were taken, no changes were made as i wanted to keep them as there were and look back at a later stage and learn from it.

Plus i wanted to finish with something with a warm colour and this was perfect.

The full sharpness gloss on the leave and blurriness is there in the images.

1st

1/80, f3.3, ISI 3200

2nd

1/160, f3.2, ISO - 2800

this image shows the 3 colours the center reddish brown, middle layer yellow/golden and the other layer, reddish to the dying dry leave and the background blurry.

3rd