One of my subjects for my People and Place assignment three was St. Nicolas' Cathedral in the City of Newcastle. I have walked past this building many times over the years but had never been inside before. Walking inside for the first time was awe inspiring. The architecture and carvings are simply beautiful. So what!...........you may think - the inside of most Cathedrals are beautiful! But then the outside of most Cathedrals are beautiful too - this one breaks that rule! It doesn't have its own close separating it from its surroundings, it is stuck on a busy street corner in the city centre with traffic whizzing past yards away from its entrance. It started life as a lowly parish church and didn't become a cathedral until 1882 when Newcastle was separated from the diocese of Durham. It has since undergone extensive interior work and been extended. Whilst gathering my images for this assignment I made several visits to the Cathedral and spent time with the wardens. Here are some of my images from these visits. One of my visits coincided with the heritage open days so while I was there I was able to take a trip up the bell tower and onto the cathedral roof. Certainly a trip to remember!
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Whilst at the Paws Up photography event I met a number of people from Durham Photographic Society and they invited me along to one of their meetings to meet the other members. Being very shy I was a little nervous about going and expected to feel out of place and a bit like an outsider in such a large, well established group. My worries were unfounded though as everyone was so friendly and made me feel very welcome. After a few weeks of attending I decided to become a member and was talked into entering some of my photographs into the final competition of the year. This is yet to be judged and from what I've seen the standard is very high but it will be good to get feedback from an independent judge if nothing else. The blogmaster from Durham PS does a lot of work with Durham Police Bikewise - http://www.bikewise.org.uk and he invited me along to one of their mini moto events not far from where I live. It was great fun but I didn't have much luck with my photos, those things can't half move fast!! During the two hours I only managed to get one half decent panning shot - shame on me!! The same guy also asked me to cover a local memorial service on Remembrance Sunday at Pelton Fell Memorial Park also not far from where I live, I felt very privileged to be asked as a young soldier from the village was killed in action in 2010 so I knew his family and members of his regiment would be attending, this also made me a little nervous as poking a camera in peoples faces at times like these I feel can be disrespectful. However, the people attending were lovely, I got to speak to the band and the vicar before the service and they all reassured me that I was very welcome there and they were very pleased that DPS had asked someone to attend and record the event. I did use my long lens quite a bit though so as not to intrude too much. Whilst at the service I was approached by a man called Steve Barr who is part of the village community project and helps to run a place called The Brockwell Centre http://peltonfell.org.uk/pelton_fell_community_partnership.php?id=22. He asked me if I would send him some of the photos from the day and I happily obliged. I have since had a lovely message of thanks from him as the Centre has made the shortlist in a bid for a grant from The Peoples Millions to provide new computers for the Centre, TTTV had been filming an article that day and they had been able to use my photos as part of the filming of the history group. I have subsequently been invited to a tour of the Centre and made honorary photographer so hopefully I will get to go along and practice my people shots soon.
And..........my icing on the cake - Paws Up have produced calendars for next year to help raise money for the charity and not one but TWO yes TWO of my photos have been chosen. So I am Mr June and Mr October for 2014 :) |
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