Vertigo

This is the staircase in The Baltic Centre for Contempoary Art

Far Pastures

These were taken at Far Pastures Nature Reserve

Clara Vale Bird Hide

Someone said this was a Siskin

Long Tailed Tit

Female Pheasant

Male Pheasant

St Mary's Lighthouse

And out from nowhere came 2 divers.

St Mary's Island

This is the first time I have ever seen the St Mary's Island causeway flooded with the tide.

Birds, birds, birds

Brambling

Willow Tit

Long Tailed Tit (thanks to Chris for letting me know)

Robin

More oldies - they keep on coming

Taken at Marsden near South Shields, Tyne & Wear

More from Sunday

The first photo was taken from the bridge above and the others are the riverside market. Again I had to turn these into B&W because of the kind of weather we had. At least the rain kept off for these shots. I have added a slight film grain to them too for effect.

Birds & Deer

Taken at Thornley Woods & Far Pastures Saturday Morning around 8am. I love going to the hides on a Sturday morning it relaxes me and just enjoy being one with nature.

Black & White

I haven't been able to get out this week so i'm going through all the photos i took last weekend. I thought this would be a good shot for black & white. The sky was very cloudy and dark giving it a dark moody atmosphere. I like it anyway.

Settings

• Focal length - 11mm
• Aperture - F/16
• Exposure time 1 sec
• ISO 400

The Bridges

Taken at Gateshead & Newcastle Quayside.

Bamboo Bridge & Millenium Bridge

An 8th bridge has been constructed over the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead... using 20 tonnes of bamboo. The temporary suspension bridge, which spans more than 100 metres, has been built between the Tyne and Gateshead Millennium Bridges by Australian company Bambuco.

While taking photos of the Bamboo Bridge I finally got to see the Millenium Bridge tilt to let the cruiser go underneath. All the years it's been built and this was my first time seeing the event.

Newcastle & Gateshead Quayside

"The Sage in Gateshead provides world-class facilities for acoustic music on a prime riverside location overlooking the famous Tyne Bridge. It is seven buildings in one, designed from the inside out and then clothed by a spectacular curved glass roof."



"The Millenium Bridge was designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects / Gifford & Partners and built by Gateshead-based construction company - Harbour & General, the bridge was opened on Monday 20th November 2000. It is still the world's first and only tilting bridge!"




"The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art is the major centre for international contemporary art. Formerly the Baltic Flour Mills, a disused 1950's grain warehouse, has now been transformed into one of the biggest and best contemporary art spaces in Europe. It has a premier site on the south bank of the River Tyne and lies at the heart of Gateshead Quays"



I've been going through some old photos I took earlier this year of The Quayside and decided to re-work them as HDR images. I quite like the results. It's very windy and raining today, not good weather for outdoor shots, hence my looking through some old shots to play with for today. Hope you like them.

I'd like to thank Anna, my friend at Washington Camera Club, for giving me the drive and inspiration to re-work these shots. I was totally inspired after seeing her wonderful shots on her blog. Thank you Anna!

St Mary's Lighthouse

"Reached between the tides via a short causeway, St Mary’s Lighthouse has all the fascination of a miniature, part-time island. The Lighthouse, completed in 1898, on a hazardous coast for shipping, remained operational until 1984 when it was superseded by modern navigational techniques.
North Tyneside Council now operates the Lighthouse as a visitor centre, through the Libraries and Museums service.
Facilities include a popular shop and an exhibition/meeting room, which is available for hire.
Visitors can climb the 137 steps to the top of the Lighthouse, which provides spectacular views of the North East coast. The surrounding Nature Reserve contains an area of rock pools, cliff top grassland, a beach and a wetland habitat.Further services provided include an educational service and organised activities during some school holidays".

For all I've lived in the North of England all my life i've never yet till today visited St Mary's Lighthouse. Friends in my camera club regularly visit here in the early morning for the sunrise and have taken some outstanding photos (see Annas Blog on my 'Other Bloggers' links). I've yet to drag my body out of bed unfortunately. Not that I'm lazy, it's just I have to get up very early in the morning during the week for work so at weekends I like to have a lie in till around 8am. So, unfortunately, no sunrise images for me, just a beautiful sunny afternoon, but very cold. Ofcourse I forgot my tripod and had to take the photos 'hand held' unfortunately. I think i'm going have have to leave a tripod in the car from now on.



Settings

• Camera Olymus E500
• Aperture - f/7.1
• Shutter speed - 1/60sec
• ISO-100
• Focal Length - 22mm
• Exposure compensation 0 step
  

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne & Wear on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. It has six miles of coastline and three miles of river frontage, dominated by the massive, functional if not beautiful piers at the mouth of the Tyne. These are best viewed from the Lawe Top, which also houses two replicas of cannon captured from the Russians during the Crimean War the originals having been melted during World War Two.

Armed with my wide angle and 200mm lenses, camera and tripod I started off in the car to go to Marsden in South Shields thinking I would have all afternoon to concentrate on taking good photos. How wrong I was...... Traffic jams into South Shields held me there for nearly 1 1/2 hrs. My favourite spot at Marsden closed off due to subsidence and the steps down to the beach cordoned off. I ended up having to go down by the pier in South Shields itself. So much for all afternoon to take photos.
I have to say though, I look forward to the weekend, and weather permitting, getting out into the fresh air. Being couped up at work all day during the week and unable to get out sometimes gets me down, but it also makes me appreciate my weekends more too.
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Settings

• Camera Olympus E500
• Lens Zuiko Digital 11-22mm Wide Angle
• Aperture Priority
• Aperture - f/22
• Shutter Speed - 1/6 sec
• ISO-100
• Focal Length - 22mm
• Exposure Compensation -0.3step