Monday 30 July 2007

Flickr Meet - Roseberry Topping

This month's flickr meet started out at The Buck Inn @ Great Ayton. It was good to meet up with everyone again and after a brief foray into the town for Ice Cream (true to form - I opted for a cuppa instead), we drove to the base camp and started the long trek upwards. I'll post some pictures later of the more traditional type, but once we got to the top, I unveiled my tyre - clearly I couldnt leave home without one and carrying a full size tyre up the topping would have been out of the question so I borrowed one from Alvin's remote control truck - it had to be done - really - it did have to be done - I am making a mental note never to leave home without one. For the discerning reader who doesnt know what I am going on about - take a look here.

Nefarious on top
Damn thing keeps getting in my shot
Which fool brought a tyre !
The Nefarious One loves being....

The other bit of silliness on the top involved parachutes and moo cards. For those unfamiliar with Moo cards - they look like this....
Hmmm, this place looks familiar

When attached to a parachute, they look like this during launch....
Fly away and be free
Fly away and be free....take two
Reach for the sky

Some people find them a little strange, perhaps hard to figure out...
What is this strange flying object?!?

...but when in full flight they can be both graceful and beautiful...
Airborne

...and even have their own strange mating rituals....
Ritual mating dance
Tug of war

Newcastle and beyond

Sometimes, you just have to get out, even when you dont feel like going anywhere. Saturday was one of those days, so I wandered northwards to Wards Graphics just below the Metro Centre for some mount boards and suitable tools - having made the decision to mount a couple of images each month and then to organise an exhibition. Having made the trip, I ventured down to the Quayside in Newcastle. It is one of the places I seldom travel to, perhaps because of my almost complete lack of knowledge about the geography of the place - its one of the few places I seem to always get lost in the one way systems.

My main hope was to get some pictures of the Silver Slug and Millenium Bridge, which I did, but I think the bridge has much more potential at dusk - definitely worth a repeat visit!

The Silver Slug
Millenium
River Tyne

Whilst wandering around, it turned out there was an Americana concert at the Silver Slug (aka Sage).

Waiting for Americana
Americana groups

After a brief (but torrential) downpour, I headed east, to Whitley Bay, one of those places I had heard of but never visited. I hadnt realised it has a beautiful lighthouse and I was really blessed by good light and interesting skies :-)

St Mary's Island and Lighthouse

Whitley Bay seems to have that common feel of most seaside towns, most of which have seen better days, but it is quite a beautiful spot. The past heydays of the 50's and early 60's, before international travel became so accessible seemed to be embodied by the old derelict Spanish City building.

Derelict Spanish City

It is nice to see that this has made Grade II Listed Building status and that it is due to be cleaned up and renovated. I will have to make a return trip to see the finished result.

Thursday 26 July 2007

Nightime wanderings

Photography is good for the soul. The night before last I went for a midnight wander with the dog and my camera down to one of my regular haunts on the beach. Surprisingly there was no rain and the stars werent entirely obscured by the clouds, though the low light levels (no moonlight) meant 30 second exposures at F4.5, focussing was guesswork.


Old haunts


As I wandered across the beach I came across some very unusual sandcastles, with a nefarious tyre standing guard.
Beach art


Needless to say, I circled carefully!


Life on mars

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Middlesbrough Mela 2007

Middlesbrough's annual multi-cultural festival event organised by the Tees Valley Community Media. A great family day out, with a wide variety of music, food and a wonderful atmosphere despite the rain.

Transglobal Underground
Transglobal Underground

M2K & Don Dee
Adoration
Strumming
Chinese fan dancing
Hot Fuzz
Having a good time

For more shots of this, pop across to my flickr set, or have a look at Pie-Girl or CWR's shots of the same event.