RPS Northern Documentary Group

RPS Northern Documentary Group November 2023 edition

Members of the RPS Northern Documentary Group share some of the images they have been working on.

Contributors:

Tracey Ainsley Francis Annett

Linda Golightly

Malcolm Boyd

Philip Howard

Mark Corpe

Maggie Jary

John Dilworth

Kevin Morgan

Peter Dixon

Lyn Newton

Ed Forster

Peter Strassheim

Images and content of this publication are the copyright of the individual photographer unless stated otherwise

Cover image by Peter Dixon

Tracey Ainsley There are a couple of big holes in the centre of Newcastle at the moment and I've been recording the different changes over the years. One of the 'holes' is where The Odeon, Bradford and Bingley, the Yorkshire bank, an art deco car park, offices and somewhere I spent a lot of my youth, the old nightclub Tuxedo Junction (latterly Buzz).

Carliol House 2015

There is also the beautiful Art Deco Carliol House. I've been recording the changes and watching the new HMRC building take shape. Carliol house is listed so only the frontage has been saved. Here are a few images from the past and over the past year just concentrating on Carliol House.

Carliol House 2022

Carliol House - no windows

Corner of John Dobson and Market Street

Back of buildings on Market Street including Carliol House

Blackett Street

Francis Annett Street photos from Sicily this September. The two in Palermo show contrast in subject matter and in tone and treatment of the monochrome.

Music to the Ears in Palermo

Palermo Dreaming

Rainy Street in Syracuse on a wet day when even Superman could not control the rain.

Sicily street

Walk to one side

Malcolm Boyd

The canoeist – Taken at the Tees Barrage during the National Canoeing Championships. This is a well run event with no entry charge and more than adequate parking, Definitely worth a visit.

Gaia – Taken at Durham Cathedral, this exhibition attracted thousands of visitors during its stay.

The Punk – taken in an underpass in Newcastle this young man was walking through and we asked him if he would pose for some photos. He was more that willing to do so and we made arrangements for a further shoot.

Michael Corpe

John Dilworth

…..North East life

About 10% of the population are 16-24 years of age. This is an image from a long term project portraying the lives of young people growing up in Middlesbrough.

An all too recognisable scene. This couple are passing a shop that back in their day was busy and popular in the vibrant commercial heart of their town.

Portrait of a coastal livestock farmer: a lifetime of hard, physical work engraved in every pore. His look of sadness is for the future of a way of life lived by his family for the past 150 years.

Social Action

"Maggie won the battle but we won the war". Hatfield Main Colliery was at the centre of the 1984 Miners Strike. The Hatfield Main Women's Support Group was typical of a national movement, popular in mining villages supporting miners during the bitter year long strike in the face of great hardship and opposition but also engaged in broader political aims. Both are depicted here.

People are not shy to demonstrate their political views. This man came up to the North East and "The Big Meeting" for the first time from Kent to make his point.

A more light-hearted take on a demonstration during the COVID pandemic with a more serious point. Their message is that getting vaccinated should be a matter of choice. In their view, vaccines had been rushed into use without proper clinical trials.

Ed Forster

…..The Ragged Victorians

Back in the day when a shilling was a week’s wages and 'Pure' (dogs dung) was a valuable source of income Victorian 'street' people were living with no homes, little or no income or access to a benefit system. To support themselves many did degrading work in the drains, sewers, cesspits and mortuaries for little or scant reward. Thieving, cheating, prostitution and even the selling of children was often the only option they had.

The Ragged Victorians or “The Great Unwashed” is an award winning living history group, re-enacting the lower classes of Victorian England circa 1851.

Although based in southern England, the opportunity to photograph the group was made possible at Tanfield Railway. There was no restriction with photography other than a request for photographers not to ask the group members to pose. I have seen many images of this re-enactment but none which depicted Victorian photography.

I therefore post processed my images using a wet plate filter to achieve the effect.

Peter Dixon

I've had numerous trips over many years to Paddy's Hole at South Gare, Redcar.

I was introduced to the area by the late Peter Conway from the Gallery Photo Group who had shown his work at Whickham CC. Paddy's hole is one of those places which is worth the annual visit as I certainly never fail to find new images.

The area became a long standing project, documenting through photography the myriad of differing aspects in the harbour area and the fishermen's huts.

My three images represent the humour, textures, light and the beauty and art of black and white photography.

Ladder

Peeling Paint

Wanted Ad

Lynda Golightly Appleby Horse Fair is a huge cultural event for the travelling community. This year the fair was blessed with perfect weather which brought the crowds out in force see this colourful spectacle.

Watching the travellers handle their horses, some of which are very young, and maintaining control in such crowds, is amazing to see and great fun to photograph.

Philip Howard

Things I would never have seen but for Covid19

My wife Chris and I live in a rural part of south Durham (indeed only a few miles from Barnard Castle, with its new-found fame). At the beginning of lockdown we decided to have a daily walk round a loop of road which we have walked before, but never so consistently. On many days we saw no-one but people driving delivery vans or agricultural machinery. According to Google Earth this walk was just over 2.5 miles, so I can state that by the time we stopped counting we actually were people who walked 500 miles.

The photographs I’ve chosen, from a large number I took, are things that could only have been seen for a very short time.

This natural snow sculpture, which everyone I’ve asked agrees looks like a swan, would only have lasted for a few minutes more before losing its head.

We knew there was going to be a partial eclipse of the sun, but had no hope of getting any kind of view of it because the cloud cover was almost 100%, but suddenly there was a little patch where the cloud was thin enough to show the sun but thick enough for it not to be blinding. I had time to take 26 photographs before it closed again, only one of which was any use at all. I used a Lumix bridge camera with no special equipment.

A nesting starling taking lockdown very seriously indeed. We saw the parents going in and out for a few days, and heard the chicks, before they were gone.

Maggie Jary

….. The Feast and Crowning of the Salmon Queen - Tweedmouth

There has been a long tradition of salmon fishing in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth. Sadly this has severely declined in recent years but one age-old tradition continues.

This is the annual Feast and Crowning of the Salmon Queen which apparently began in 1292, revived in the late 1940s, and was developed as a celebration of the peak salmon run. Today it serves as a reminder of Tweedmouth’s long history of salmon fishing and also marks the Festival’s patron Saint Boisil (Boswell).

Each year a new Queen is selected from one of the local schools.

The ceremony begins with a procession from Berwick Town Hall then across the old bridge to Tweedmouth. The Queen and her attendants travel in a coble, a type of boat used for salmon fishing (unfortunately no longer along the river but pulled by a van!), with a group of bagpipers leading the way. Cubs, Brownies, Girl Guides, Scouts and locals follow behind.

Once over the bridge they are greeted by a crowd of well wishers and local dignitaries. The official crowning ceremony and speeches take place, after which the vicar leads a prayer to ‘God the creator of the salmon, the creator of the Tweed’. The Queen lays a wreath on the war memorial and a lone piper plays a lament.

Finally, the great and the good disappear to enjoy their feast while the rest of us queue at the ice-cream van listening to more of the pipe band.

Kevin Morgan

London eye

Sunderland Glass Centre

At the Baltic, looking at the Chris Killip collection

Lyn Newton

…….And how it rained!

This summer saw one of the wettest and windiest on record but as Brits….we pulled on our macs, got out the brollies and just got on with it…..

Rain at the seaside in July…

And in the town...it poured!

Peter Strassheim

…..Strange Architectural sequence

I took the first of these pictures in 2015 while exploring the new Science Park in Newcastle – I was attracted by the leading lines and guessed it may be the start of a Car Park.

Park here

This second picture was taken in 2022 at the same place.

Helix Lines The two seen together intrigued me because the builders have installed the paving and seats before the buildings around them were even started – surely a strange way to do things!!!.