Pea Soup

The term 'As thick as Pea Soup' is often connected with fog. Last week I photographed one or two locations in thick fog with very low visibility, which was down to 50 metres at best. I've never been one for taking my camera into the fog to be honest, as those type of mysterious shots never really appealed, until recently. I don't need an excuse to get out with my new 5D3 these days, as the sheer experience of handling it is enough to get the creative cogs spinning in my head. It really is a remarkable piece of kit and I've only just scratched the surface regarding its capability, which again is quite exciting to know that there's a lot more to this camera than firsts meets the eye. When I test out the camera in various conditions and situations I'll be posting a full teardown review of it here on my blog page. Even then, it's one thing to mention the tools within its box, but another to actually try these tools out, so hands on is something I'm looking to and I've got every intention of getting into the nuts and bolts of my new toy. First impressions are as impressive as I expected and I hope the further in depth I go, the results are equally as good. But back to that uninviting bowl of Pea Soup...

As I say, I'm not one to photograph foggy scenes, but that will surely change as and when, after pulling in a few decent shots last week. I visited four locations in one afternoon, which were Copt Hill Barrow (Houghton le Spring), Seaham Harbour, Littlehaven (South Shields) and Newcastle Quayside. The middle two locations threw up next to nothing in the way of photo opportunities, mainly due to very poor visibility, but Copt Hill and Quayside offered me at least a crack at it. Here are a few photographs from my outing...

1. Tyneside Commute - It's fog on the Tyne, during an early evening rush hour on the Millennium Bridge.

2. Copt Hill Barrow, Houghton le Spring (Seven Sisters)

3. Copt Hill Barrow, Houghton le Spring (Seven Sisters), re-processed

That's all for now. I'll be back shortly. Feel free to check out my new 'Hadrian's Wall' gallery at
ashleycorr.com    Cheers!    Ash

Black & White Icons

Hello again!
Continuing the Black & White theme...

I have a rather nice set of framed prints on offer at £45 each. One or two examples can be found on display at Clay's Garden Centre, Washington and also Penshaw Tea Rooms. Mounted in white and framed in black, each measures 20x16 inches and is part of an ever increasing set of 'North East Icons'. There are four available at present, with more additions planned for the very near future. I recently sold two to a customer in Lechlade, Gloucester, so it's nice to know my work is continues to be scattered around the UK and further afield. Here are the icons that are currently available. I will post photo's of the actual framed images during the next few days. Cheers!

Ash

1. Winter, Penshaw Mounument
2. Groyne Lighthouse, South Shields
3. Millennium Bridge, Gateshead Quays
4. River Tyne, Newcastle
5. Guardian Angel

Canon 5D MkII - More Test Shots

Hello again.
A few hours ago I was out and about once again, testing out my new camera at Newcastle Quayside. This was my third run out with the 5D MkII, following two previous outings to Seaham Harbour, County Durham, and like my last blog entry, I was on the hunt for more low-light photographs. I can safely say, after just three batches of test shots, this camera is unreal, especially the 24-105mm Luxury Lens, as it once again pulled in some brilliant tack sharp images. And no sooner did I process those images and I'm already planning my next jaunt, which is the effect this camera is having on me. It's slick, smooth and worth every penny of ones 'Hard earned.' So it looks very much like my Newcastle Quayside At Night gallery will be getting a revamp, as my new images will replace old ones and there will be more on the way. I'll be making more visits to this location in the next few weeks, so keep an eye open for more of the same, very soon. A new battery grip has been added to the kit bag, but one thing that I missed tonight was a Wide Angle Lens, following the sale of my 10-22mm EFS, which wasn't compatible with the EF mount I'm now running with on the full frame 5D MkII. So, it looks like I'll be shopping around for a Wide! Anyway, it's knocking on for 12.30am, so I'll have to call it a day - the fart sack awaits!

In the meantime, here is tonights shots...
Click to enlarge.
AC

Olympics 2012

Huge Olympic rings were lowered on to the Tyne Bridge recently as the North East prepared to welcome the Olympic Flame to the region. Constructed from aluminium, the massive overlapping circles measure 25m wide and 12m high, making them the largest set of metal Olympic Rings in the UK. St James’ Park, Newcastle played host to the London 2012 Olympic Football tournament where six matches were played at the stadium, including Brazil, tournament favourites to lift the gold medal in the men's football. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I got my arse down there last week to photograph the Tyne Bridge before the Olympics finished and the rings were removed. I had hoped for a colourful sky to finish my photo's off nicely, but I wasn't in luck. After sunset, what little colour there was quickly burned out, leaving a rather flat backdrop, but what can ya do. I might persuade myself to return to the Forbidden City again, before the rings are ditched, in the hope of pulling in some better shots. I'll keep you posted on that one.

In the meantime, here are three shots for ya. There's a panoramic effort, along with a full shot of the Tyne Bride, plus a closer abstract version. Not much else to add to this swift blog entry, folks. I'm off to bed now - beauty sleep required. Without further ado...

Ash

Big Country - o2 Academy, Newcastle

In 2008 I saw Big Country perform at Legends, Newcastle - Bass player Tony Butler took on the role of lead singer, following the death of original frontman Stuart Adamson. With due resepect, Tony is no singer, but he done the best he could on the night and the fans went home happy. At Legends, back in 2008, the overall sound of Big Country was inevitably hollow due to the 'Missing' guitar parts that Adamson played, but again the band improvised and done a job as well as they possibly could under the circumstances. Tonight however was a very different matter, as the band had enlisted the help of Mike Peters (lead vocalist of The Alarm) and used his vocal prowess to compliment the anthemic Big Country sound, and he fitted in perfectly. Not many could have filled the void Stuart Adamson left, but Peters is a worthy successor judging by tonights vocal performance. And remember those 'Missing' guitar parts - well they were back and so was the full BC sound, courtesy of Jamie Watson, son of lead guitarist Bruce. Jamie was earlier drafted in as a kind of experiment after practising Stuart's guitar parts with his dad over a period of months. The band attitude towards a possible inclusion of Bruce's son was 'Let's give it a go and see what happens.' Some may have seen this is a gamble, but if it was, it was one that paid off as Jamie Watson fitted into the live set-up equally as well as Mike Peters - round pegs in round holes!

Big Country were founded in Dunfermline in the early 1980's, and another band with Scottish roots, Gun, supported them at tonights gig at the o2 Academy in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Gun weren't my cup of tea, to be honest, although they went down very well with the audience, who had turned up in large numbers and the event wasn't short of a sell-out. An hour in and I was still freezing cold - someone needed to hoy 50p in the gas meter to pump some well needed hot air into the place. It was -2 degrees outside yet it felt even colder inside the venue, but it didn't take long to warm up once Big Country took to the stage. The band received a huge welcome from the crowd as they started their set with a track called Angle Park. The place was soon bouncing - we were lucky to get places at the front so I was in confident mood of grabbing some decent live shots, taken with a modest Fuji F60 'Point and Shoot' affair. The band played their 1982 album 'The Crossing' in its entirety, to mark 30 years Anniversary of its release. The set list on the night was as follows...

1.Angle Park 2.East Of Eden 3.Another Country 4.Balcony 5.Restless Natives 6.The Crossing 7. In A Big Country 8.Inwards 9.Chance 10.1000 Stars 11.The Storm 12.Harvest Home 13.Lost Patrol 14.Close Action 15.Fields Of Fire 16.Porrohman...encore -17.Tracks Of My Tears 18. Look Away 19.Wonderland

From the freezing cold to the hot and sweating - the fast tempo of the music, coupled with a crowd paked in like sardines and bouncing about to the music, we soon warmed up. Highlights of the gig were as follows...

Mike Peters vanishing from the stage, eventually emerging at the rear of house, perched on someones shoulders and singing the 1983 hit 'Chance', much to the pleasure of the surrounding fans. As he made his way to the front of the audience he was helped over the barrier right next to us by security staff. I grabbed a shot of him at close quarters (second shot, above).
During one of the encores 'Tracks Of My Tears' Mike Peters altered some of the lines in respect of Stuart Adamson...'Since you left us, if you see me with another band, Looks like I'm having fun. Although I might be cute, I'm just a subsitute, cos you're the permanent one (Mike points skywards).
Another highlight (literally) was again centred around frontman Mike Peters as he turned his acoustic guitar to reveal a mirrored back, before pointing it towards the audience and reflecting the light from the rigging above onto the crowd in a 'Search Light' effect. It worked very well, easily reaching the seated audience on the balcony, as well as those at the back of the stalls. I can't remember off hand which song was playing at the time, but it covered atleast two minutes of instrumental as Mike's 'Search Light' flashed past most of the audience. I managed to grab the effect with my humble Fuji, shown here in my third shot.

I could ramble on, but I'll be here all night if I do. Enough said then. A great show - looking forward to seeing them again sometime. I hope BC can hang on to Mike Peters though. He's been getting rave reviews on The New Big Country Website for his performances on this tour so far. Bruce Watson, Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki played their part as usual, leaving their fans with the feeling that there's still plenty left in the tank.
That's is all, until the next time,
Ash

Autumn Colours, 2011

Autumn shots have been few and far between this year, but I did manage to grab a few last week during a recent trip to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. It was a bright, sunny day and the seasonal colours were on display in Leazes Park, near the local football ground, (St James' Park) and as I was in the vacinity of SJP I was afraid I would break out in a nasty rash at any moment, but luckily that didn't happen. Maybe this was due to good preparation the day before - I visited my local GP who administered the necessary jabs! Infact, the only thing that did break out in Leazes Park was the Autumn colours. This was my first visit to the park and I was quite impressed with it - very tidy and well maintained, although I couldn't help but notice a stone eagle with its beak broken off due to obvious vandalism - evident signs of charver intervention, me thinks. You wouldn't witness such things in Sunderland mind you - No, because the whole eagle would have been smashed in, never mind its beak! Joking aside, Leazes Park was fairly quiet during my brief visit, give or take a few 'Student-y types' passing through. A barney broke out on the lake between a couple of Mute Swans and a cackle of Canada Geese, seemingly at odds over a slice of bread thrown to them by an Andy Capp lookalike. The drama was swiftly over when one of the swans clouted a goose over the head with its outstretched wing - it and the rest dispersed, quite sheepishly it must be said.

Whilst walking back through the park in the direction of the RVI Hospital, my eyes were drawn to a rather odd looking tree bark. Its yellow leaves were shining through the sunlight and a good shot suddenly appeared there and then. Overhanging branches give the shot some edge as I composed to suit. Just then a couple of 'Student-y types' ran up to the tree and swung from the branches in front of me as I was about to take some shots. Ignorant tw*ts (that's twits, by the way...wink!). Then one of them climbed up the tree and stood there looking down whilst his mates sparked up a conversation about nowt. They were obviously blind or taking the pittle, as they had total disregard for me being there, taking photo's right in front of them. Ah well, there's nowt as queer as folk, eh. I bided my time until they'd moved on before continuing with what I'd started. I got there eventually. There are plenty of photo opportunities in Leazes Park, and although the inclusion of the football ground wasn't part of todays plan, it probably will be the next time I visit. It dominated the top end of the park near the bandstand and the nearby tree lined paths added to a potential panoramic shot. I'll have to keep that one in mind for future reference.

After leaving Newcastle I headed home along the A1(M) past Team Valley Trading Estate. It was at this point I decided to stop off at the Angel Of The North, which was literally a couple of minutes drive away from this point of my journey. I was after another Autumn shot and as the Angel is almost surrounded in tree's I was hopeful that some would offer the colours I was looking for. When I arrived there were a few people taking photographs of their own so I had a scout about for a good spot and took it from there. I walked through a break in one of the wire fences and positioned myself near a small tree, facing the Angel. This was as good as it got - the leaves were on the turn and I used fill-in flash to give that extra punch to them in the foreground (shot 3, shown here). Nice blue sky and broken cloud filled the top of the frame and overall this was a decent shot as the sun bounced off the rusty structure that towered in front of me. The obligatory extra or two was added in the shape of passers by, which once again gave a sense of scale and finished the shot off quite well. And that was that, as they say. Back into the car and a stop-off at Washington B&Q for Chicken Curry & Chips. Well, it was mid-day and my stomach was dropping subtle hints that it had been neglected for a few hours. Time to compromise. Slightly miffed that the folks on the snack van hadn't replenished their stocks of 'Bick's Extra Hot Chilli Sauce' that I usually add to my Curry & Chips - now that stuff puts hairs on ya teeth! Last time out I over-indulged and the following day my arse was like the Japanese flag! He he, a gluton for punishment, you may claim, and I couldn't disagree, to be honest.

See ya next time,
Ash

Great North Run 2009

It's that time again. It doesn't seem five minutes since the 2008 Great North Run. In many ways today, the day of the 2009 run, is very similar to last years event. I find myself on the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle and the area is packed with spectators on another sunny day in September. The drummers have turned up again, adding to the carnival atmosphere that has made this event a big hit since it started back in 1981.

Last year I photographed the runners at four different locations on the GNR route, beginning on the Tyne Bridge. This year I decided against 'Trashing it' and settled on photographing
from one location only. Naturally, many of the roads were closed to allow the run to take place, so driving from location to location on the route had it's problems and car parking was a nightmare too. So, the Tyne Bridge was an ideal backdrop for todays photographs and I was armed with a set of fresh batteries and an empty memory card - it was time to roll.

At around 10.30am the first disabled runners came through, follwed a few minutes later by the Elite Woman. Next it was the turn of the Elite Men, followed by the baggage coaches, and there were plenty of them!

Soon enough the main race started and thousands of runners were heading towards me on the Tyne Bridge. Many were in fancy dress and I kept my eyes peeled for the odd celebrity or two, which isn't easy when there's so many people running towards you. I fired off dozens of frames in sports mode, often catching runers with a series of staggered shots. The old stick standing next to me kept telling her grandchildren that she's seen this one and that one from Emmerdale - I never saw them, and even if I did I wouldn't admit it...he he. Then I heard her shout 'Hello Mr Ramsey'...bloody hell, the swearing chef had just ran past me!

I did manage to catch a couple of celebs on camera though. Jerome Flynn, half of the Robson & Jerome double act, and someone from Emmerdale...oh no, did I just say Emmerdale! Oh, go on then.

I stayed until the last runners had gone past, and followed shortly after by the 'Sweep Vehicle' that was clearing the road so that the bridge could resume normal service. Well, by this time it was almost mid-day so I made the short journey back to my car in Gateshead and then off home where a lovely big fat lamb roast was about to be served up. The Mrs, she's a little diamond...so she is!

Ash

A Flock Of Seagulls - Newcastle Academy

My first 'Live Music' blog entry. It was time to use my compact Fuji camera again - a permanent fixture when it comes to live music concerts. The battery (and spare) had been charged during the day plus I had the luxury of an empty 4gb memory card.

 

Tonight it was 'A Flock Of Seagulls', who started life in the 1980's as part of the New Romantic/ Electronic scene. The venue was the O2 Academy in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Quite a few people showed up for this one, although it was by no means a packed house. I went to the Academy with my gig mate 'Billy Bootleg' and got a reality slap at the bar when the young lass charged me £7.20 for two pints of lager!!! Mind you, them Geordies have always been a set of robbing buggers, eh (wink).

The gig itself was great. Fifteen songs in total. At £13 a ticket it was a steal. The support act, Billy Blood-Axe, was a bit of a joke though. Never mind, at least he had the balls to get up on that stage...unlike me. He he.

Ash