The Big Picture - West Midlands

Since a lot of people who were at the World Record unveiling were, or have become, interested in taking photos there were a lot of cameras out at the event. We hope that people will share theirs online with everyone, it could be almost as good as being there.

We’ll also collect blog posts, videos or any reaction from around the web here — if you spot any please leave a message in the comments.

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The image created by the final mosaic was selected from the thousands of submissions. Taken in 1926, it is a portrait of 17 year old Arthur James Bunce from Tipton in the Black Country, training as an amateur boxer.

Arthur, who had fourteen children died in 1987 at the age of 78, but the photo has continued to be an inspiration to his family and was sent into The Big Picture by his Granddaughter Lucy, also from Tipton.

Lucy says: “I am totally overwhelmed! This photo is so important to my family. I never got to meet my Granddad but he and my Nan were always at the heart of our family. My brother, Michael, even has the photo tattooed across his back. My family have always been very proud of our Black Country roots, my Grandfather especially, so this is a great tribute to him.”

Here’s what Lucy and Helen Marshall (the lead artist on the mosaic) said about the photo when it was shortlisted.

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Explore the photo galleries. The photos there are a unique collection of images of the West Midlands and the people that live there. You can even help make the collection better by adding tags to help with searching, and comments with any facts about the pictures.

Learn more about taking, editing and sharing photos.  The Photo Pro section has links to inspiration and tutorials across the web, and a directory of photographic groups in your area. There are also exclusive interviews with local photographers and special tips.

See some Big Picture contributors’ favourite photos in our Big Picture Picks section, and pick your own favourites.

Don’t forget you can also explore the World Record Photomosaic in detail.

Eight photos were selected to be in with a chance of becoming The Big Picture. The were selected for their unique boldness, fascinating stories, and their suitability to be reproduced into the huge scale work of art.

You can see all of the eight images and what the Big Picture team, artist Helen Marshall, and all those who commented on the choices said here.

Helen Marshall tells us how the construction of the mosaic is going:

The photos are being assembled one by one onto the two hundred and eighty eight plywood boards by the volunteers and the tension in the hall at Thinktank is heating up.

It was great to meet some of the people who are giving their time to the project and helping with the mass assembly, many of whom have submitted a lot of photos and who keep coming across them in the montage.

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With just over a week to go, and over 110,000 pictures received from across the West Midlands, we can reveal the eight photos in the running to form the final image of the world’s largest photo mosaic.

All 110,000 images sent in from the public will be used to create a huge, record-breaking photo mosaic, the size of three tennis courts, to be unveiled outside Birmingham’s Millennium Point on Saturday 23 August. The mosaic will create the image of one of the final eight shortlisted photos, but the special picture will be kept under tight wraps until the grand unveiling.

See, and discuss, all eight shortlisted images.

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Weather photos were a big part of The Big Picture, with over 500 added to the weather gallery. There are shots of sun, rainbows, snow, and it being the British summer lots and lots of rain.

John Clayton has his own weather station and takes photos of the conditions nearly every day — he’s picked his top ten weather photos from The Big Picture for us to see.

If you’d like to put together your own galley of “picks” on a theme, or just your favourites, email us at editor@inthebigpicture.co.uk and well put it together with you.

You may have seen Richard Redshaw on TV at some point, as he was one of a few Big Picture photo submitters to be interviewed on BBC Midlands Today. He sent around a thousand photos in, and has been closely following the project, looking at as many of the photos as possible.

Richard has picked eight of his favourites for everyone to see.

If you’d like to put together your own galley of “picks” on a theme, or just your favourites, email us at editor@inthebigpicture.co.uk and well put it together with you.  

The Big Picture team were at Dudley Zoo with hundreds of photos and a panel of the mosaic on Wednesday, so visitors could contribute to breaking that World Record.

The Zoo’s section of the mosaic was completed in record time with help from John’s Lane Residents Group from Tipton Road Methodist Church, who were visiting as a treat.

There are still many panels to go, over a hundred still need their photos added, so if you’ve time to help and would like to be part of The Big Picture please come to one of the workshops. You can find full details here.

Dumpr.net (not a great name, I know) has a lot of cool tools for changing your photos into something special.

This photo was made with what they call “museumr” where you can see how one of your pictures would look hung in different museums and art galleries.

If your photos are on flickr then you can use then with a click, but you can upload any photos you have on your computer to try.

Stephen O’Loughlin’s shortlisted photo of people seen though a camera phone was an example of using depth of field as part of the picture.

Stephen has been experimenting further with the technique, here he’s taken a photo of himself holding his shortlisted image and then done the same with that print, adjusting the depth of field.

It’s a nice effect. You can try out depth of field effects if your camera allows you to control focus and aperture (SLRs will, but you can check your manual). There’s a great explanation and tutorial here.

If you’ve enjoyed seeing some of the old photos that have been part of The Big Picture, you might be interested in this website. You can upload any photo and it will make it look old and scratched (as we’ve done here).

If you’ve got a photo editing software package like photoshop you can achieve effects like this by hand, but this site is quick and the results are great.

Liz Combellack, whose photo of Birmingham’s Markets is one of those shortlisted to be come the World Record mosaic, has sent us this picture of her proudly pointing to her work on the billboard advertising the grand unveiling.

Liz says ; “I have a wrist injury at the moment, and therefore cannot currently take any photos – well, not any decent straight ones anyway.  I am itching to get back into it when I am fully better, and being a part of the Big Picture is something really positive to keep me going until I’m fully healed!”

Liz isn’t the only one who has been to see their photo as part of the shortlist. Annie, the mother of Lydia who took a photo of her neighbours, has also sent us a picture.

There are currently 65 completed World Record mosaic panels, with 6 in progress at Thinktank as well as some out around the West Midlands. That’s great, but there’s still a long way to go!

Diane Fellows, whose photo is one of those shortlisted, was helping out at Thinktank (pictured left, sticking down images) along with other volunteers.

If you’ve got some time to help out with the construction, and would like to be part of breaking that World Record then you can find details of the nearest workshops to you here.

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A great mosaic building workshop today at BBC Birmingham’s Public Space at the Mailbox, where members of the public and staff helped put together one of the panels that will make up the final mosaic.

BBC WM’s Tony Butler (pictured) was one of the first to add a photo and hopefully take his place as a World Record holder.

There will be another panel to help fill at the Public Space tomorrow (8 August) and plenty of other opportunities to help out across the West Midlands region. Find the workshop nearest to you here.

The mosaic workshop originally scheduled for 8th August at the Potteries Shopping Centre is now going to take place at the nearby Potteries Museum and Art Gallery (still from 10am — 4pm). The Big Picture team hope to see you there.

The long process of constructing the World Record attempt mosaic for the unveiling on the 23rd August has started this week, both at Millennium Point and at workshops across the region. The Big Picture team and volunteers have 110,000 plus photos to stick to 288 panels at the rate of about fifteen a day — and we’ve got to get every one in exactly the right place.

Student Jack Prior (pictured) was helping out at Millennium Point on Monday, and it took him just under two hours to complete a panel (that’s 392 photos). Jack, who’s from Halesowen but studies in London, saw a poster for The Big Picture on a bus and volunteered to help with the mosaic build.

You can help too, and be part of breaking a World Record — either at Thinktank, at Millennium Point, almost every day, or at a workshop hear you. Check here for full details.

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Happy April posed in front of a poster showing the photos shortlisted for the World Record attempt, pointing out her picture, and then uploaded the photo to Flickr.

The poster is near Thinktank at Millenium Point in Birmingham where the final mosaic will be unveiled. From Monday 4th August there a lot of the mosaic will be being put together at Thinktank - as well as at workshops around the West Midlands.

If you would like to help, there are more details and a list of venues here.

It’s a difficult job, but we’re going to try to do it.  Now the dust has settled on the rush to collect all of the photos that were needed to make the World Record Mosaic, there’s time to take a closer look through all of the pictures and pick out some that we think everybody will like.

We’re going to collect them together in galleries that show some of the common themes of the 110,000 plus photos. First up, is a small selection of some of the oldest photos that have been added.

If you’d like to put together your own galley of “picks” on a theme, or just your favourites, email us at editor@inthebigpicture.co.uk and well put it together with you.

The Internet is a great place to find advice and inspiration for your photography. Here are some links we think you might enjoy:

• 21 Ways to Shoot Better Photographs — mostly simple things to think about when composing your shot.
• Photoshop, Corel, Xara, Painter and PSP Tutorials —
  using your computer to tweak your photos can produce great results.
• Life in the Pyrénées, circa 1900 — A brilliant library of old photos.