Archive for the ‘People’ Category
Saturday Sanddancer Scene #38
Antonio
Hello and welcome back to the Saturday Sanddancer Scene, where members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board compete to have their photographs published here, this time around I asked members to submit portraits, and we had a wide and varied selection of entries. The winning entry comes from Dave Smith, a former South Shields man, now living in Chester-le-Street, Dave has an Italian wife and this wonderful charming picture was taken during one of his many family trips to the hills of Italy.
Antonio Marra was 84 years young when this picture was taken, he is a former police officer and the picture was shot in his house in Taurisano in the Lecce region of Italy, the part which we commonly refer to as “the heel”. Antonio is allowed to enjoy a single glass of wine per day and he was relishing this one after lunch on a rather dull afternoon when the light levels were receding somewhat. Dave tells me that Antonio is now over 87 years of age and is still as sprightly and lively as ever!
Dave has an avid interest in photography, is a Photoshop user, and is always looking for those ways to improve his art, this shot was taken on his Canon 400d using the kit 18-55mm lens, he used bounced flash from the Canon Speedlite 580 Ex ll. The exposure was 1/60 sec. at f5.6, and the iso speed as 400. I think you will agree this is a magnificent portrait full of genial warmth, which puts the viewer firmly in the picture, I can easily imagine a conversation with Antonio.
Well done Mr. Smith!
To stay up to date with my regular pictorial postings please go to South Shields Daily Pictures.
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Saturday Sanddancer Scene #35
The Holiday picture
Hello and welcome back to the feature where members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board contribute to this page, and last month I tasked them with supplying their favourite family holiday picture, and this month’s winner came all the way from China!
Pictured above is Andrew Stewart and his daughter Mary visiting the Tsingtao Brewery at Qingdao, Shangdong province, China!
Andy is an ex-pat Sanddancer originally from Simonside in South Shields, the ex Royal Navy man is now settled in Australia where he is a regional operational manager for a very large retailer. Andy travelled from Queensland to China for his holiday this year to visit family and friends and this is what took his kith and kin to the brewery. I’ve met Andy a few times and despite spending over twenty years in Australia he still retains his authentic Geordie accent and is firmly tied to his roots here in South Shields. Andy told me:
The Germans built the brewery during their occupation of Qingdao, and the Japanese changed the name to Tsingtao during their time of occupation. It is in the suburb of Beer Street and is well worth a trip if you are ever visiting Qingdao. Qingdao hosted the sailing events during the Beijing 2008 Olympics and it is a city with over 10 million inhabitants.
I just used a little Canon pocket camera set on the self timer to take the shot.
Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board now has nearly 1/4 million posts from its members across the world and is the busiest little forum on Tyneside!
If you want to stay up to date with my normal daily picture postings please go to South Shields Daily Pictures.
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Saturday Sanddancer Scene #32
Lauren
Hello and welcome to our latest winner from entries submitted by members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board, last month we had an “open competition” without a theme and this is the shot chosen to be published here today, I don’t think we’ve ever chosen a portrait before and I think you will find this one a very pleasant change.
This is South Shields’ girl Lauren Fada and the picture was submitted by her mother Audrey, Lauren had arranged a special day out in South Shields for her mother’s birthday on the day this was taken and had gone to the trouble of decorating the house with balloons and garlands as well as organising a huge buffet to be enjoyed by her mother’s friends and relations before they all carried on the celebrations in our town centre on the evening.
Audrey Fada tells me that she had one of the best days of her life after the effort that Lauren had put in to make it enjoyable, and that she had made it a very special day for her to remember. The tow of them are still “buzzing” after winning the competition and she’s really proud of the fact that her snap of Lauren was chosen.
To keep up to date with my latest daily picture postings, please bookmark South Shields Daily Pictures.
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Saturday Sanddancer Scene #29
Carlo
This week’s picture chosen from those submitted by the members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board comes from David Smith of Chester-le-Street who was born and brought up in South Shields. Dave married an Italian girl and often they visit her home town together for holidays and to meet the rest of her family.
I was particularly impressed with Dave’s portrait of “Carlo” which shows an underlying indomitable spirit and reflects the hardship of a life lived and earned from the land. Mr. Smith told me:
Carlo is a comparatively young man whose face reflects the hardships of the life which he has had to endure. Badly burned and mangled in a serious car accident, suffering from kidney failure and on regular dialysis. Undaunted he struggles on without complaint and working hard on the land in Italy.
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Saturday Sanddancer Scene #27
Night time!
Many thanks to those members of the Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board who submitted pictures for last month’s challenge which was to provide a night time shot to reflect the happiness of summer in South Tyneside and the north east of England.
This was the picture which I chose and it was sent by Audrey Fada of South Shields and shows some of her family enjoying a “hen night” for the girls up river in Newcastle upon Tyne. Audrey is the young blonde girl in the centre and on her left is her daughter Lauren and on her right her step daughter Kelly as they enjoyed themselves in a Moulin Rouge themed night out near the Centre for Life.
To keep up to date with my latest pictorial posts please see South Shields Daily Pictures.
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South Shields Daily Photo 