February 24th – Little firsts are the art of getting through winter. Little, tiny victories that mark the passage from darkness to light, and tonight, on my way home from work, it was my first normal-time commute in something approximating daylight, rather than darkness.
OK, it was wet, windy, murky, verging on the brink daylight, but it was perceptibly not dark. A little victory.
The joy of this almost totally took my mind off what an unutterably foul ride it was…
January 28th – Bit of a rough photograph, for some reason, and I will return to this in future, as until recently, I didn’t realise how beautifully lit Darlaston War Memorial was at night. It really is gorgeous.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I know of few better places of remembrance than this one. Sombre, respectful, quiet and restrained, it is a place of dignity, and reflection and is a credit to Darlaston.
I must find out what happens to the camera when it does this…
December 22nd – A day at work in Darlaston, then nipping into Brum on an errand. New Street Station is mad at this time of year, and the lousy revamp is crippling passenger flows. Stood at the end of the platform for blessed space waiting for the train to be made available, I took a couple of shots. I love the differing lights here, the colours, surfaces, angles and textures.
I guess most folk would dismiss it as ugly, but I think it’s curiously beautiful.
December 10th – Can’t ever remember a winter passing this quickly. It doesn’t seem ten minutes ago since shirtsleeves and sun; but today – unusually heading through Pelsall to Walsall due to a necessary call on the way – winter had arrived in full force. The second day of a headwind forged on Satan’s back step, it was relentless and drained my energy.
As was pointed out to me, it’s only a matter of a week and a half until the solstice – and then, opening out again. I dreaded the darkening this year, but somehow, thankfully, the usually associated black dog didn’t ride pillion. The relief of this has uplifted me through the darkness.
Pelsall Common reminded me of Joni Mitchell ‘Shivering trees standing in naked rows’ – but hey, it’ll be Bryter Layter.
And so, the season’s wheel advances inexorably on, with me in a surprisingly good humour for the time of year. I think someone must be slipping happy pills into my tea…
September 16th – We’re in a real Indian summer at the moment – back to cycling around without a coat, with the sleeves rolled up. The sun has been shining, and the soft, mist-suffused light – particularly in the afternoons – has been a joy to the soul.
Autumn isn’t far away, though; the trees are turning, and when the sun goes down, there’s a distinctive nip in the air my chest and bones recognise only too well.
Here on the Lichfield Road at Walsall, the atmosphere and colour were gorgeous. I love how the trees are sculpted on the underside by the double decker busses that regularly pass under their boughs.
This has been a great season, and a good year.
April 9th – This… this, it’s remarkable.
I was shooting along the towpath, in the part of Spaghetti Junction where there’s a covered, cavernous tunnel over the canal. It’s dark under there; and eerie. It can be a little scary – there is no electric light there, and the only daylight is from the portals and small, irregular metre-square apertures in the roof, that let in shafts of sunlight. It’s a very odd, otherworldly spot.
I cycle through here generally without stopping. But today, a patch of yellow caught my eye in the admitted beam of light.
I stopped. I backed up. I stood, open mouthed.
Hundreds, possibly more than a thousand daffodils in small jars. Each with water in, in the circle of light. Decaying, gone over. Placed with what must have been care, it would have taken a large effort to get them and the jars to that spot. It’s not accessible. It would have perhaps taken a boat… or some climbing. But why? Was it art? Obsessiveness?
I was captivated. The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s stunning.
When I got home, I looked at the pictures. I puzzled over them. I asked twitter: twitter knew. Thanks to @nebolland, @kenofski, @brumcyclist and @cybrum who enlightened me.
It turns out it’s art. It was carried out by artist, art world enfant terrible and extraordinary publicist Bill Drummond, once of the KLF.
Read about Bill and his Birmingham project here.
You can say what you like, that had a massive impact on me. That was bloody genius. I have total respect for it.
March 27th – Not a great photo, but the light was terrible as I headed home. This curious matt-brown box with a bright white light on top puzzles many folk heading east towards Chuckery on the New Ring Road in Walsall, just by Queen Mary’s School. It’s an environmental monitoring pod which takes climatic and and air quality measurements, and logs them. It features a host of sensors – the white light is a particulate analyser, shining light through the air and measuring the floating contaminants. There will be wind, temperature, humidity, and various chemical sensors humming away in what is actually a vehicle trailer. The triangular cowl on the front is covering the towing hitch.
This is a fairly expensive piece of kit, being used to tell us what anyone in Walsall already knows; the air quality here is terrible – particularly next to a badly designed junction where traffic is often static.
No shit, Sherlock.
March 12th – Despite it being a lovely, misty afternoon, the photoraphy was surprisingly lousy. I did, however, get a pleasing photo in of a very challenging view: Ogley Hay from Shire Oak Hill.
I love this view, but like all the views from Shire Oak, it’s difficult to capture in a photo due to too much stuff being in the way in the foreground; the view of Walsall to the southwest is cluttered, as is the view of Lichfield to the northeast. To the northwest, the view of Brownhills is actually enchanting to me, but translating it to an image never quite works.
I’m quite pleased with these, although the haze distorts them a little.
December 17th – In the dark nights and half-light days of winter, decent lights are needed. Searching, bold white in front, and strong red at the back.
In the darkness of the footbridge at Ogley Junction, I noticed how effective they were. Wouldn’t be without them.
March 25th – Today was actually rather beautiful. I skipped into Walsall on ice-free roads, zipping past lines of stationary traffic. It didn’t feel overly cold, although the wind at my back was bitter. As I reached Tyseley, the sky was blue and the sun was out.
Snow upon this urban landscape makes everything old new again. I love the way it picks out rooftops and reflects the goodness of the sun back to me.
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