Birmingham: Sea Life Centre & Surroundings / by Andrew Wilson

A trip to the Birmingham Sea Life Centre had been on the cards for a while as my partner is a massive shark fan. With a bit of time off together in the summer we finally decided to go!

Never one to pass up on a unique photo opportunity I took my camera along to see what I could capture. From past experience I know that taking photos at an aquarium is a challenge; the light is low and the glass is thick, making it difficult at times for the autofocus to accurately find subjects. This pushed me to seek out sources of light to illuminate subjects and, from time-to-time, to use manual focus to avoid missing photos due to the camera hunting for the subject.

Another challenge is trying to get a good photo of a moving subject you can't control or direct while vying for position amongst the hustle and bustle of a busy family-day out. Patience is a virtue in this type of situation!

In the end I was pleased with some of the photos I took; a few of them were some of my favourites from 2016 (in particular the portrait-oriented photo of the shark bursting through the bubbles and the exterior of Birmingham New Street station).

So now please take a look through my photos from the day:

 
 
 
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This little creature was in the above photo. Can you spot it?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I spotted this stream of bubbles illuminated by a strong source of light and thought it might make for a good photo if a shark were to pass through it...

 

...so I waited patiently...

 
 

...very patiently until one eventually did!

 

After leaving the Sea Life centre we walked back through the city to the train station. We started off by walking along the nearby canal.

Library of Birmingham.

 
 

The Selfridges building.

 
 
 

Birmingham New Street station exterior.

 
 

Birmingham New Street station interior.

 

Crossing the Runcorn bridge back to...

...Liverpool Lime Street.

So that rounds out our day-trip! I hope you enjoyed this blog. Comments are always appreciated so please let me know what you think below and subscribe to keep updated for future blogs. Thanks!