A Musical Interlude

Newcastle Shootaboot
Originally uploaded by CrazyDave53

Last weekend I had a shoot in Newcastle with Ian and Vee, Vee is with the Flickr "Shootaboot" group and is based in Milton Keynes. Although the weather was terrible with it constantly raining, but it certainly didn't dampen the spirits. The first place we called into was Central Arcade an elegant Edwardian shopping arcade built in 1906. For years the arcade was used by Buskers as the acoustics it provided was amazing. Moving across Grainger Street we next called into the Grainger Market.

The Grainger Market is the City's largest traditional market, situated in an elegant, classically styled building in Grainger Street near Grey's Monument. This under-cover market was the largest in Europe when first built in the 1830's. It sells mainly meat and vegetables with a good variety of game available. There are many other stalls, each with its own particular character. Hidden within is the unique "Marks and Spencer Original Penny Bazaar", the world's smallest Marks and Spencer store. Some Great photos were taken, not just of the market but some of the characters that work there.

We left the Market and headed down Grainger Street towards Newcastle Central Station. The Central station is the mainline railway station and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building. The railway station is connected to the adjacent underground Central Station Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro. Whilst in the station we met up with an interesting group of youth who did cosplay.

Cosplay, short for "costume roleplay", is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character or idea. Characters are usually sourced in various Japanese and East Asian media, including manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies. They were pleased that we actually came over and asked if we could take some photos as a lot of people just try and take sly photos of them. A few of them got into poses. We are planning to go again when they have their next meeting so we can take more organised photos of the day.

Moving out of the Station we headed down towards the Quayside, one of the most photographed places in Newcastle. At this stage we had to taken shelter as the heavens once again opened with a vengeance. We took a lot of photos in this area, not just on the Newcastle side but the much forgotten Gateshead side We headed back into the Centre of town for a much needed rest and a beautiful meal in a Sicilian Restaurant, here we had time to have a laugh check what photos we had already taken and relax.

No Visit to Newcastle is complete without a visit to the Flickr Wall:-

A TYNESIDE alley has been transformed into a beacon for urban artists. Bell’s Court is a narrow pathway, dubbed Newcastle’s Secret by chalk artists, which branches off from Pilgrim Street and has become home to a growing mural of drawings and poetic messages.

Contributors to the mural run a dedicated page on image-sharing website Flickr where they post photographs of their latest chalk creations.

The web page has been running for more than three years and has a cult following of members who have added markings to the wall over time to transform it into a pocket of colour in a concrete street.

From the Flickr wall we headed back down towards the Quayside to take some photos of the bridge in the twilight hours. Just by the Millennium Bridge was these two musicians, entertaining the crowds that gather on the Quayside visiting the various clubs and pubs in the area.

The Day, despite the weather was a great success, it was great to meet Vee and would love to meet up again for another "Shootaboot". Fort anybody else reading this and they fancy a shoot around in Newcastle just drop me a line, Im always willing to meet us with fellow togs.