What a marvellous stroke of luck this turned out to be. The conditions couldn’t have been any better, dry weather, an almost clear sky coloured from pale blue to orange and hosting a nearly full moon, all nicely topped off by the icing on the cake, an almost perfectly still River Tyne.
In order to maximise the photographic opportunities, the members split into small groups, some choosing to move towards the Swing Bridge to catch the last rays of the sun striking such iconic buildings as the the Norman Foster designed Sage Building and the Baltic Centre (a converted 1930s flour mill), whilst others wandered down stream to take advantage of the reflections of the magnificent buildings on both the Newcastle and Gateshead sides of the river, and of course not forgetting the bridges.
Inevitably, as darkness fell and the area began to come to life for the people of the night, everyone drifted to the area around and downstream of the Millennium Bridge to capture the illuminated splendour that characterises this revitalised city, especially the ever changing coloured lights playing on that now famous footbridge.
It is hard to believe that until just a few years ago the whole area consisted of the run down remains of a once busy commercial dockside that was an industrial powerhouse exporting the products of its mines and factories to very corner of the world and is now a thriving, cosmopolitan area with bars, restaurants and public spaces. A true photographer’s paradise.