Birmingham’s Surprising Vistas

Several weeks ago, Ben was out looking for snails (ask him about it one day) and he stumbled across this view:

It was exactly the place he’d intended to go to, but he was completely taken aback by the presence of the stones and the distant city centre towers behind them.

Since then we’ve been curious about these surprising vistas of the city: those unexpected views that show a different face of Birmingham. Sometimes even making it look like somewhere else.

Here’s an example from my own collection. Again a view towards the city centre; this time from the top of a roof in Digbeth.

A view of the city. But which city?

I think it’s the gulls and something in the graininess of the sky that makes this a surprising vista for me. This Birmingham feels like a coastal American city.

Does Birmingham-as-elsewhere only happen at sunset? Does it require a little red-sky magic to make it happen?

We’d love to see any photos you have of Birmingham’s familiar skylines and landmarks glimpsed in such a way that make you feel you are no longer in Brum: slivers of landmarks from odd angles; views of the city that jar with expectations…

Use the comments to link us up to your images, or Tweet them at us if that’s more your style. There’s also a Flickr group here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/brumvistas/. Surprise us!

Update: red-sky magic not required!