Sunderland Winter Gardens & Museum

A few weeks ago I received an order for a large quantity of postcards that I recently designed. The destination of the cards was Sunderland Winter Gardens & Museum, which is a new outlet I now supply to. The postcards, of local scenes in and around Sunderland, were on display in the gift shop and it was nice to see them sitting alongside other crafts of local interest. There are eleven cards to choose from, all of which follow a similar style and carry their own number on the back as part of a set. The full set consists of seventeen cards at present, with more designs to follow in 2011.

I am hopeful that the Winter Gardens & Museum will shortly be stocking a selection of my limited edition mounted prints, but as yet nothing has been confirmed, so it's a case of 'Watch this space'.

I had a quick look around the Winter Gardens before I left the building, taking a few shots along the way. The place is very well maintained and although it was fairly quiet, I imagine it gets quite busy during peak hours. Had a little chuckle when walking past the museum entrance - there it was, the first Sunderland built Nissan Bluebird, in Arctic White. If I rembember correctly it was presented to Prince Charles but he donated it back to the Museum some years later. I wonder why? Maybe he wasn't too keen on it - who knows. Nissan build much better cars these days - have you seen the Cube!!!!!!! he he.

With the days starting to get longer and the nights getting lighter, I'll be out and about with the camera in the next few weeks. No more sunrise shots until the back end of 2011. Can't be doing will 4.00am starts in the summer - no thanks.

Spring is almost upon us and I've got my eye on a 70-300mm Canon lens for some nature shots. The 10-22 wide angle lens will be put to the test with plenty of landscape shots, so there's enough to look forward to as far as new stuff is concerned.

Also targeting more outlets to sell my work through in 2011. I'll keep you posted on any new developments as and when they happen. Until then, keep popping back to ashleycorr.com for the latest site updates, as well as new blog entries. Plus there's more TV clips to follow, as well as my own High Definition video clips, captured on my Canon 7D. Until then...ta ta!

Ash

Seven Sisters On The Box (Parts 23 & 24)

Two more television clips to bring you, folks. Tyne-Tees television broadcasted one of my photo's last week, on two separate nights. On the first night, my latest shot of the Seven Sisters was shown on the weather bulletin, followed a few nights later during the news bulletin itself, which was a nice surprise. It was picked out by new presenter Kerrie Gosney, who is familiarising herself with the area through photo's like mine, which has a story behind it.

The 'Copt Hill' monument includes the round barrow known as Seven Sisters. It is situated in arable land on the western flank of Copt Hill and is 300m south of Copt Hill public house. Excavation of the barrow in 1877 revealed that the primary burial was a Neolithic cremation, believed to be an example of an axial mortuary structure. There were also several Bronze Age cremations and inhumations, and an early medieval inhumation.

I've heard a few stories relating to the fact that there any only SIX trees, when there should actually be seven, if the name is anything to go by. One was burnt down by charvers. Others say the Seven Sisters were in reality, seven witches. One of the witches died and that same evening one of the trees was struck down by lightning. What to believe, eh?

Recalling the day I took this particular shot...
Leading up to sunset I anticipated a good one. Prior to this particular day we had a few cold and frosty mornings, with decent sunsets, so maybe this occasion would be the pick of the bunch. I quickly got my arse into gear and headed up there as the sun dropped towards the skyline, parking in my usual spot in the Copt Hill pub car park. Within five minutes I was set up and ready to go, right in front of the barrow with the sun about to set right behind it.

Just then, I was joined by a local fella who I had chatted to briefly the night before as he passed me whilst walking his dog. The visitor, Gordon, from just over the way, knew quite a bit of history surrounding the Seven Sisters. Interesting stuff. I told him I was hoping for a good shot to send in to the people at Tyne-Tees Television. As the clouds turned pink he agreed that tonight was going to be a good sunset and he even took a couple of shots of his own, courtesy of his nice iphone. Might have to get one of those! If you're reading this Gordon, let me know - there's a nice print heading your way with you and your mutt on it!

As Gordon and companion crossed over the barrow I quickly tripped the shutter, hoping I'd captured the right moment. I only got one crack at it, as I forgot about setting my camera on continuous shooting mode. I got lucky. One shot and it was a good 'un. Probably my last visit to the Seven Sisters until next winter. I only photograph the trees as a silhouette, when they've shed all their leaves. Not much attraction in the spring and summer seasons, to be honest.

I've got to say though, I love this shot, plus the three exposure panoramic sweep I had the foresight to grab while the sky was in 'full bloom'. Here they are. Hope you like them.
Thanks for visiting!
Ash

BBC Tyne - A Contribution

Hello again. A couple of years ago I submitted a batch of photo's to the BBC Tyne website, which were used in a dedicated gallery to showcase my work. I can't help cringing when I view those pictures now, but I thought they were quite good back then.

Anyway, I received an email from BBC Tyne informing me that they'd used a couple of my old shots in a new gallery, featuring illuminated subjects in the North-East. Here's the link - Joseph Swan's light bulb legacy on Tyneside and Wearside. It features two of my shots and these are image 4 and image 7.

And just for the record, here's that gallery of images I mentioned earlier - Ashley Corr's Northern Highlights. Until the next time, see ya.
Ash

Newcastle Quayside, Revisited

I'm back again, bringing you more drivel about my exploits behind the lens. Well, lately I've been updating my image stock library of Newcastle Quayside, as I have a couple of idea's in the pipeline which I'll be putting together in the next couple of weeks. Because of this, I've been making regular trips to Newcastle during the last month or so after a lengthy absence. The Forbidden City and it's Quayside area is great for photography, as I have probably mentioned before, and low-light work is usually the most effective route to take because of there's so many illuminated points of interest down there.

With the help of Teal Farm Photography I managed to loan a Tamron 55-200mm lens for my trip to Newcastle Quayside earlier tonight. It's a sound peice of kit - just what I need for a shot that needs transferring from my head to the memory card. I know what I'm after, but my bog standard 18-55 job won't cut the mustard for this one. I need to bring those Tyne Bridges right in, filling the frame. I was hoping for a decent sky as a backdrop - as it turned out, it wasn't bad at all!

Not many Geordies about tonight. The place is rather quiet for a Friday. Maybe they're all through Sunderland buying half-season tickets (wink). Anyway, time to test out the Tamron glass, so I'm set up on the Millennium Bridge facing west, towards the Tyne Bridge. The sun had been down for almost an hour by this time, but there were still a few traces of colour in the sky. I'm off and running with my first shot (above), which is all about symmetry. I like this one - it was finally out of my head and now recorded on the card. Mind you, I had to wait long enough to get it! The amount of double decker buses crossing the Tyne Bridge was neebody's business. I didn't fancy one o' them wrecking the shot so I waited til the first bus went off at yon end, only for another one to enter the bridge at the other side - then another, and another, and another. I've heard the one about the Number 10 bus, but this was a prime example of taking the p1ss!!!!! Got there eventually though (smile).

From the same spot on the Millennium Bridge I decided to switch lenses and drop right back for some wide-angle shots, taking in the arch right in front of me, using a Canon 10-22 wide. Again the 'Blinking Eye' was changing colour every ten seconds or so, giving me choices, which are shown here in shots two and three.

With numb fingers once again I made my way off the Millenium Bridge and onto the north side of the River Tyne, more commonly known as the Quayside. This was where I took my last shot (shown here, number four). I cropped this one and got shot of the unwanted. It looks almost panoramic and certainly more effective than the original composition.

Finally, can I say a big THANK YOU to Nagzy, who taught me all I know about photography (wink). His wealth of information has been invaluable to me and I can't thank him enough. He certainly talks a great photograph! I tell you folks, what Nagzy don't know about White Balance just aint worth knowing in the first place. He knows more about ISO settings than I know about Vindaloo...seriously! And hey, if ya wanna aquaint yersel with camera Histograms then Nagzy is the boy to consult - oh yes indeedy. Anyway, Nagz - when is our next trip 'In the field', as it were?

More stuff in the next couple of days, folks. Thanks for visiting A.C's blog once again.

Cheers, Ashley Crumb

Tyne-Tees Television (Parts 20, 21 & 22)

Hello again folks!
Continuing the TV theme for another blog entry, here are more of my shots that appeared on Tyne-Tees Television. The shots were shown back in October 2010 and I recently found them on my hard drive, ready for upload here on my blog. There are 3 in total -

1. Sunrise - Souter Lighthouse, Whitburn
2. Sunrise - The Groyne, South Shields
3. Autumn Leaves - Lumley Castle, Chester le Street

Just a short one tonight folks. I'm off out in a few minutes for some more snapping.
Til the next time...
Ash

Tyne-Tees TV - Pip's Puzzler

Visitors to my Blog will probably be aware that I occasionally submit photo's to Tyne Tees Television, who in turn use them on their daily weather bulletins. In 2010 they showed quite a few of my photo's that I captured in the region and so far in 2011 I have only submitted one, which was shown earlier this week. This time, my photo wasn't shown on a weather bulletin, but another feature called 'Pip's Puzzler' which ITV runs every few days. The puzzler shows a photograph of a local scene that has been sliced into peices and jumbled up. Viewers are then asked to identify the scene by emailing the presenter with their answer. This is the first time ITV have used one of my photo's for Pip's Puzzler, which is a nice change from the weather bulletins, but they don't mention the photographers name...ah well!

Whilst taking photo's on Penshaw Hill I decided to send one in to ITV, so I left a gap at the left-hand side of the frame, as this is where the weather presenter usually stands when the photo's are shown. So, without further ado, and just for the record, here is the original image.
It's a tad better than the 'Squeshed' version they showed on yon telly!
Cheers, Ash

Approaching The Big Four Zero!

Yes, almost 40 folks!
By the way, that's not my age - it'll be a while before I reach that milestone (wink).
My website, ashleycorr.com, has had almost 40,000 hits since it's introduction back in 2005, with a steady rise in the first couple of years, through to a steep rise over the last 18 months or so.

My work has been advertised through certain channels, mainly through sales of my work, although I have also generated interest through Commissions, TV exposure and Search Engine Optimisation, amongst others. My website continues to improve through regular updates, including the more recent 'Gallery Revamps' that are a simple case of 'Out with the old and in with the new'. Revamps also include replacing images that were optimised during upload, as quite a few appear slightly out of focus on the page. The slideshow bug that was causing this has now been fixed, so the results should now be visible to the viewer.

Ashleycorr.com will further improve as I intend to upload more video clips to my Blog page, including short clips of my trips in the field. The footage was recorded 'In camera' (Canon 7D) in High-Definition and will be uploaded in the next few weeks. As well as this, I will be updating most pages on my website and also creating new pages which will feature slideshows and pop-up galleries. In the meantime, thanks for visiting, and feel free to tip my hit counter over the '40' mark. Cheers!

AC