Last ride

Metroland to close

The New Metroland is an indoor funfair at Gateshead’s Metrocentre, packed full with all of the usual rides, such as this roller coaster. Unfortunately it’s time to grab those last rides before the Metroland finally closes on the 20th. of this month to make way for a new multi-screen cinema.

I’ll show one more picture from Metroland tomorrow before returning to South Shields pictures.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 55mm lens, 1/250 second, f4.5, iso 400

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Wonderment

She’s amazed!

Having taken the short trip from South Shields to Gateshead’s Metro Centre we discovered that the Metroland indoor funfair is about to close, as a kind of tribute there was a display of miniaturised scale models of old fashioned funfair rides being displayed to raise money for charitable causes.

That’s where we found this little girl and her lion transfixed by the old fashioned dolls swinging around in this little fantasy world.

This is cropped from a larger image, where I used two layers in Photoshop, a black and white layer over a coloured layer, a soft eraser was set to 50% opacity to reveal the underlying colour for the young girl.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, mm lens, 1/90 second, f3.5, iso 400

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The end of the year

The Angel of the North

We started 2007 with a picture of The Angel of the North, a sunrise at dawn - so it’s appropriate to close out 2007 with the sun setting behind Gormley’s iconic figure. The statue is only a few miles from South Shields and is sited on a hill overlooking the busy A1 road which carries traffic from London to Edinburgh, hence it is seen by thousands of motorists every day.

South Shields Daily Photo would like to wish you well, and hope that 2008 brings you lots of luck and good health.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 64mm lens, 1/250 second, f8, iso 200, velbon tripod.

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Conservative Leader in area

David Cameron in Gateshead

Conservative Party Leader David Cameron was shot (not with a gun) in the Hilton Hotel, Gateshead on Thursday. Gateshead is only a few short miles from South Shields, it was an event I was interested in, so I went. The pictures were a bit “noisy” because of the low light levels but overall I’m happy with these portraits.

Camera details: Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, 400mm lens, 1/15 second, f5.6, iso 400, white balance tungsten. Flash not fired.

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War Memorial

Saltwell Park, Gateshead

We were sat in the rather nice cafe housed inside Saltwell Towers within the park in Gateshead, enjoying scones and tea when I spotted this elegant war memorial through a distant window. The statue is dedicated to the men from Gateshead who lost their lives in the 1899-1902 South African War, perhaps one of our colonial campaigns that is easily forgotten.

I liked the viewpoint and thought it would make an interesting study in black and white.

Camera details: Pentax K100D, 82mm. lens, 1/10 second, f19, iso 400

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