BBC Television Centre

Upstairs downstairs

/ mikeosbornphoto / 13 Comments

UpstairsDownstairs

I’m on the ground floor of BBC Television Centre, a 1960s building in west London. I look directly upwards and through the stairwell to the light filtering down. I can’t claim to have taken the stairs up to the top – a swift ride in a lift took me there.

This stairwell doesn’t have the Art Deco glamour of the one at the former Daily Express headquarters on the other side of the city, but like stairways the world over, has an interesting inverted quality. What you see from the bottom is reversed at the top.

Television Centre has been sold off for redevelopment and staff are gradually being moved out. Much of the iconic building is protected, and hopefully this staircase will continue to be used for many years to come.

View a gallery of interior details of other London buildings

Winter makeover

/ mikeosbornphoto / 4 Comments

A recent spell of snow and ice here in west London had a transforming effect on the landscape. Everyday, ordinary objects of street furniture that would usually go completely unnoticed became items of interest. I saw them in a different light and wanted to photograph them with their winter coats.

BBC Television Centre and the surrounding area is a very familiar place. Fences, barriers, handrails, balconies, benches – and even a clunky yellow structure on the roof of the building – were dressed up and suddenly catching the eye.

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You may also like to look at related post White City

White City

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White City

This is the view from the roof of BBC Television Centre in west London. It looks across the snowy blocks of the White City housing estate and not much further – snow showers impede the way. A touch of sepia brings out the lines and depth of the buildings in a wintry scene where there is little clarity. Click on the image to enlarge.

Later I went on to capture the details of everyday architecture and features in their wintry guise – I will share these with you soon.

The sepia collection

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Sepia is considered an old-fashioned way to treat photographs, stuffy and Victorian. But it’s still used in the digital age, and brings a certain something to various shots.

I’m a fan, but use it quite sparingly. You know when it fits a photograph and adds something to the story. Landscapes which contain people often come under the sepia gaze in my editing suite. It adds many different subtle moods and freezes a moment more delicately. Architectural details, already locked in time, can also benefit from this treatment.  This collection of UK shots that I’ve put together hopefully visualises these points.

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