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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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.

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.

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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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.

Tim Caddick is a professional photographer working in the West Midlands, who has been enjoying The Big Picture and has been uploading some of the pictures he’s taken over the last couple of years.

One of the things Tim enjoys doing most is taking photos for Comic Relief, and Sport Relief too, you can see some of his most recent ones in this gallery.

We talked to Tim and he agreed to share some of his experience with people, helping those who’ve got more into taking photos because of The Big Picture or who would like to improve.

So, have you got any questions you’d like to ask? Maybe you’d like to know about what to look for when buying a new camera, or you’d like to know what a term like “exposure” really means, or perhaps when to use flash. You can ask Tim anything, anything polite(!), just comment here and he’ll try his best to answer your questions.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of people that sent us a photo by post, or dropped into their local art galleries, Jessops shops or other Big Picture places.

While we’ve counted them all and they will be part of the World Record mosaic, we’ve not had time to scan each and upload and every one – so please bear with us while we do that. They will appear in the galleries on this site in the next weeks.

The site is also taking a long time (due to heavy use) to pick photos up from flickr — but they’ll all get here eventually and are part of the World Record, thanks for your support!

110,000 photos will take a lot of putting together!

There are drop-in workshops across the region, you can pop-in and help for 10 minutes or a couple of hours. Find out more here.

There are other chances to help create the mosaic for our World Record attempt, either by yourself or as part of a group like a team or club. If you’d like to get involved, please email us at workshop@inthebigpicture.co.uk. We’ll get in touch personally with more details as soon as the wheres and whens can be decided.

We’ve done some investigation of all the photos that are part of The Big Picture, and here are some facts we’ve found out:

• Birmingham featured in the most photos, followed by the Black Country, then Stoke and Staffordshire.
• Stoke was home to the biggest single contributors, with one Big Picture supporter sending in 5,000 images
• The most photographed places in the Big Picture include Ironbridge and the Shropshire Hills.
• There are over twice as many cats than dogs in the Big Picture
• There are four times as many photos tagged ‘work’ than ‘home’
• The most photographed activities on the Big Picture include holidays and sport

We’ll keep looking and bring you more facts over the coming weeks.

You don’t need to have a mobile phone, or digital camera to join in with The Big Picture — if you’ve got prints of photos there are a number of ways you can get them to us.

You can post them to our freepost address: The Big Picture, FREEPOST BM2782, Birmingham, B18 6BR. Or drop them in at our partner galleries — there should be one near you:

• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Ikon
• New Art Gallery Walsall
• Wolverhampton Art Gallery
• The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
• The Herbert
• Hereford Museum & Art Gallery
• The Old House, Hereford
• Market House Heritage Centre, Ross on Wye
• Hereford Museum Resource & Learning Centre, Friar Street, Hereford

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Artist Jane Clowes made lots of elephant shaped cut-outs — which are now hiding around Leek in Staffordshire, in shop windows and other venues, plus local arts group Borderland Voices have made their own elephant, which can be found at their venue in Haregate.

If you would like to be entered in to the SPOT THE ELEPHANTS prize draw competition you need to try and find the elephants in Leek and capture them in a photograph! Try and find all 16 if you can - the smallest size of is 50cm wide the largest is 1.5m wide. The elephants are around to the end of May.
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The football season is drawing to a close, there are promotions, relegations and even European places still to be decided – sport is an important part of the West Midlands and we want to see everything that you’re passionate about in The Big Picture.

The Big Picture team were at Stoke City on Sunday, to celebrate with all the fans - including TV’s Nick Hancock!

Even if there’s nothing to play for we’d like to share the story of your season, and if you’re not a football fan we’d still like to see any sport that you do like! Add all your photos to our Sport gallery by tagging photos “sport” as you upload them.

The photos from the day at Stoke are here (if you’re struggling to find yourself you can see all of the images on one page here on the Big Picture pages on Flickr).

The West Midlands has just under two months to go to smash the World Record for the biggest photo mosaic, and organisers of The Big Picture are urging people all around the region to get snappy!

Thursday 8 May marks Big Picture Day, and all images submitted to The Big Picture during that day will be entered into a special competition, with the winning photographs being displayed on a huge billboards in June.

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The BBC and the Arts Council are looking for photos that say “Englishness” to the viewer. They say “It doesn’t have to be a thatched cottage. It doesn’t have to be the village green and duck pond. It doesn’t have to be a rolling landscape.”

Upload your photo to The Big Picture (you must tag the photo ‘madeinengland’), add a short description of what the scene means to you and the picture will be part of a gallery on our site.
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Ditch the digital camera this Saturday 26th April 12pm - 4pm and make your own Pinhole camera as part of World Pinhole Camera Day, at the The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.

Artists will be holding free drop in workshops, showing visitors how to make cameras and take images with their pin-hole camera.

The event is free and open for all ages to join in. The workshops will show how you can make a camera from pretty much anything, as pinhole photographs are taken through a small hole about the size of a full stop, rather than a lens. Pinhole camera’s can be made from every day items such as shoeboxes, tin cans or any sealable container providing a cheap and fun activity. You don’t need to bring anything, all materials will be provided.

Why not celebrate Mother’s Day with a difference this year. We want to hear what makes your Mum so special, so send us a message along with your photo and we’ll display it on our website for all the world to see!

travellinglamberts added this great picture of two people who obviously love their mum - it would be great to see and read about how much you love yours. Mum’s are special all year round, but it’s nice to have one day to let them know.

Add your picture to the Big Picture as normal and make sure you tag it ‘mum’ so it appears in our special gallery automatically.

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What do you love most about the West Midlands? Is it a building, a park or open space? Or is it just because your favourite people and animals are here?

February is all about love - so keep adding photos to The Big Picture and tag them “love” so they’ll appear in our special ‘love’ gallery

Julia Perry added this unusual photo of a cat and dog that love each other!

Don’t forget to tell us what you love - and why the photo shows that - The Big Picture is all about the stories as well as the photos (some are being featured on the BBC, as you might have seen). And remember to include an email address - as we’ll need to talk to you about your story if it’s to feature. (more…)

This week is National Chip Week – so we’d like to see your photos of your favourite chip shop.Does it have a great name (like Le Codfather - added to the Big Picture by “jonnie” ), does it serve the lightest chips in the West Midlands, or are the staff the friendliest around?

If you like to cook your chips at home - why not add a picture of your home-cooked chip supper to The Big Picture? With fish, with eggs, with a pie, red sauce, brown sauce, mushy peas, even gravy (yuck!) - we want to see them all!

Upload a photo - tag it “chipshop” - and we’ll see them all on our “chipshop” tag gallery.

There’s not only one “Codfather” in the West Midlands though - *lizbeth* has spotted one in Walsall too: