Visual Art Group - Newcastle spring residential weekend

The next spring residential weekend will be in Newcastle upon Tyne on 14th-17th April. This venue has been selected for the many photographic opportunities the area presents. It also boasts first rate public transport and rail links.

Our hotel The Copthorne stands adjacent to the Tyne within easy walking distance of the many iconic bridges, (the Gateshead Millennium, the Swing Bridge, the High Level Bridge, also the Sage Concert Hall, (designed by Norman Foster) which, when seen at night is a magnificent edifice.

This is a small part of the “Gateshead Quays Development” which includes the Baltic Arts Centre with its 4th and 5th floor viewing areas across the Tyne. It’s also a short walk to the town centre with such goodies as the Victoria Tunnel under the City Centre, Grainger Market, a grade 2 listed building with some great eateries and perfect for candid shots and much more.

The structure of the weekend will be along the same lines as previous weekends and will consist of two workshops as detailed below, together with some excellent speakers also listed below.

Our two Workshop leaders who will also be giving a talk each are:

Bill Ward. A multi-award winning photographer and actor, born and raised in Newcastle-upon-Tyne so he has a particular affinity with the area. He specialises in creative photography, and is particularly drawn to water but is also a great advocate for ICM.

A lifelong traveller, he’s interested not just in the places he goes, but the time that he spends in them. It's this that forms the basis of his work He is a regular writer and contributor for the worldwide “ICM Photography Magazine”, gives talks at Photographic Societies all over the UK, and is proud to be an Ambassador for Pentax/Ricoh Imaging. He also holds workshops for “Light and Land”. I’ve included a link to his website below, so please do take time to check it out, some astounding work. https://www.lightandland.co.uk/photography-tour-tutors/view/bill-ward

As well as being an inspirational and creative photographer Bill is also an accomplished actor in his own right having been in TV programs such as Emmerdale, Vera, Coronation Street as well as numerous stage productions so has a thespian’s eye for lighting and creativity.

Tony Worobiec FRPS. A Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, Tony is a fine art photographer with work in the permanent collection of the RPS, The Fox Talbot Museum and in numerous corporate and private collections here in the UK, in Europe, Japan and in The States.

Author of 17 books, Tony Worobiec studied fine art at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne and spent 18 years as head of a large design faculty in Dorset. He has won awards for photography in the UK and internationally, and has had work exhibited in London’s Barbican Gallery, Bradford’s National Museum of Photography, The Menier Gallery London and The Fox Talbot Museum Lacock. Dozens of his photographs have been used for book or album covers. His work has appeared in more than a 100 photographic magazines both here in the UK and in America. He has been invited to write extended articles for well-respected photographic magazines such as Black & White Photography, Practical Photography, Total Digital Photography, Digital Photo, Digital Camera, Photo Plus and Photo Techniques USA. Several of his articles have also been published in the German magazine, Canon Foto. Tony is also an assessor on the Visual Art Panel of the RPS. As with Bill, his work is well worth a look. https://www.tonyworobiec.com

In addition to these we will be having talks from

Andrew Marland who will be presenting his superb images of a forgotten Industrial North and other areas. Plus others in the process of being arranged.

Weekend schedule

As in previous weekends we will still be having several of our popular show and tell sessions. These will consist of images members bring to share with the group (any Distinction Panels will also be welcome), those taken at the workshops and not forgetting images taken for our weekend challenge.

We’re also planning a night shoot where you’ll be able to catch the best of the outstanding views of the bridges etc. At night the town and quayside (where we will be based) both come to life with upmarket and trendy bars, set against the mesmerising riverfront and together they combine a party atmosphere with epic views, a photographers heaven (but you may need a tripod to get the best of them.

The workshops will run on Saturday and Sunday as usual with a maximum of 10 participants on each workshop each day.