Another Newcastle
Readers of this blog will know that I am a supporter of Newcastle United FC, with all the ups and downs associated with that particular interest.
Newcastle is of course more than a football club. The city is interesting in all sorts of ways. Earlier this month my son and I visited the city to watch the last home game of the season in St James’ Park. To our surprise and delight Newcastle actually won the game. But I also used the opportunity to take some photos in the city, and these are below. On this occasion I had forgotten to bring any of my cameras, so what you see below was taken with my iPhone.
Hotel Beehive
Newcastle Cathedral
Newcastle alleyway
Central Arcade
Tags: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
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University Blog 
May 15, 2014 at 12:15 pm
How the dickens did it expose the pillar and the lit arcade. And how did it rid itself of the convergence in #1, #2 and #3.
Good shots, very sweet. No wonder the market for point and shoot is going the way of buggy whips.
May 15, 2014 at 3:46 pm
I did do some Photoshop editing, part of which was a lens correction. I also played around a lot in shadows/highlights to get the most effective rendering of the photographic details.
May 15, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Still, it had to be there for you to draw it out. So that was some range the sensor absorbed.
That arcade is very well done.
May 15, 2014 at 7:08 pm
These are captivating photos on several accounts, in terms of content matter they stimulate in the viewer fascinating connections for example between the “Cathedral of religion” and the “Cathedral of commerce”, the arcades of capitalism which Benjamin so insightfully described in his The Arcades Project. For Benjamin the arcades, i.e. the commodification of things marked the shift to the modern age.
Also, the rendering constructs a crepuscular aesthetics, a somewhat tenebrous spirit, again characteristic of modernism. People are extras in these pictures, the role they perform is important but not crucial, a silhouette in the arcades, by-standers in front of the Hotel, passers by in the alleyway. Yes, there is more to Newcastle than a football club…they capture the sacred and the profane of everyday urban life…
May 15, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Thank you, Anna – I really appreciate that.
May 15, 2014 at 7:21 pm
How do you keep track of all the consent forms from the human subjects in your photography?
May 15, 2014 at 8:20 pm
Ah, I detect a critical note :). Actually, I asked the people outside the hotel for permission, though to be honest one man walked out just as I took it and I didn’t ask him. The man in the mall was coming out, and I asked him would he go back in and come back towards me; and his doing so presumably constituted consent. I did not ask the people in the alley, but none are recognisable.
I shall ask you to sign off on ethics of all my future photos 🙂
May 18, 2014 at 6:32 pm
I look forward to it 😉
May 17, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Didn’t you spend time in Hull.
May 18, 2014 at 6:29 am
Ah well, I’d really hoped the underdog would get it.
But hell, that’s how it’s supposed to be. It should be edge of the seat heart-stopping fear/excitement. I’ll bet you Wenger hasn’t felt so alive in decades.
May 18, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Indeed I did. 10 years.
May 20, 2014 at 9:55 am
Not a wi-i phone then?