A big warm welcome to the many new subscribers to Eyes & Ears. Just so you know, a new edition is published and sent straight to your emails every Friday at 6am.
It features my curated round-up of regional news and events (I read everything so you don’t have to).
The edited summary - with the odd bit of commentary - contains links for anyone who may want to read more on a particular item. You just click on the underlined text.
But there’s more to Eyes & Ears than that.
A hugely popular Friday feature is the ad break, a fun piece of nostalgia (or history, depending on how young you are). I trawl through the TV advertising archives to bring you some real classics.
You can go to eyesandearsnortheast.substack.com to see previous E&E editions which have already featured some brilliant Guinness ads, the Smash robots laughing at us primitive humans, Joan Collins getting soaked in Cinzano, and Baldy Man Gregor Fisher in the photo booth puffing on a Hamlet after things go wrong.
After each ad break is a section called The Wider View which features three or four things from around the country and around the world that caught my eye and I think may be of interest to you. That could be about literally anything.
In summary, Eyes & Ears tells you things you need to know, things you didn’t know you needed to know, and things you didn’t need to know but may make you smile.
In addition to the Friday E&E, I publish a weekend edition, such as this, which could be a contributed column or feature, an Eyes & Ears Extra or something from the vaults of The QT, an online regional news magazine I published until the end of last summer (more on that soon!).
Photography features large in today’s edition. The Life Through a Lens series was a popular part of The QT. Before bringing you that, I want to provide a couple of updates.
This is the moment, captured superbly by Newcastle-based photographer Christopher Owens, that North Shields’ Sam Fender heard that his album People Watching had won the prestigious Mercury Prize at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle on Thursday.
You can see more of his images, like the ones above, on his LinkedIn. It’s fair to say that Generator, Newcastle City Council, the North East Combined Authority and everyone else involved on the night, and in the week-long Fringe, played a stormer.
As PR consultant Christian Cerisola said on his LinkedIn: “I don’t think you have to have been born under the Tyne Bridge to have had a lump in your throat thinking about the atmosphere in the room on Thursday night. This region does that to you.”
There’s a great piece in Cultured. North East which includes a video of Sam belting out the title track on the night with some Tyne Bridge imagery in the background.
Lights go out
Despite the late finish, I was able to squeeze Sam Fender’s unexpected triumph into Friday’s Eyes & Ears, an edition which also included the rather shocking news that next month’s Lumiere - the ninth - will be the last that Durham will see.
I hear that won’t be the last piece of bad news to come out of county hall for the many people who got behind Durham’s bid to be UK City of Culture for 2025. As I also said on Friday, the Reform-led council’s agreed plan for the next few years is to focus on “essential services”.
David Whetstone, an outstanding writer with a great depth of knowledge on all matters relating to culture, has taken a close look at the issue which you can read here,
I think a fair summary is: Council say they will cut back on funding so producers pull the plug as they don’t want to dilute the quality (and have let it be know that other cities want them in any case). Meanwhile, North East mayor Kim McGuinness - who put money in this year for the first time - is surprised not to be consulted and wants Lumiere to continue because it’s a “world-class event”.
There’s so much more to come on this issue. My ears are open.
Cheers
On a more positive note, Mayor Kim McGuinness has backed her commitment to the region’s creative industries with funding for 11 projects amounting to more than £360,000.
“They’re a disparate bunch,” says David Whetstone. “Ranging from an Anglo-Saxon gathering to a long weekend of women’s football, but the general aim is to ‘unleash cultural creativity’.”
One of the biggest beneficiaries, receiving £40,000, is Ad Gefrin in Wooler, the Anglo-Saxon museum and whisky distillery which opened in 2023. The full list can be read here.
My life through a lens: Owen Humphreys
By Sam Wonfor
Owen Humphreys’ journey into press photography started while he was still at school and got a job as Saturday tea-boy at the Derby Evening Telegraph.
“I soon moved into the dark room, back in the days of film,” he recalls. “I would help the staff photographers print their pictures as they arrived back from assignments. This experience sparked a passion in me and I knew that being a photographer was what I wanted to do.”
After leaving school, Owen got himself on a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) with a local press agency, enabling him to shadow and learn from experienced photographers.
Once his training was done and dusted, an urge to see a bit more of the world saw him jet off to Miami and take a job as a cruise ship photographer.
“This was an amazing experience and really helped me learn how to deal with people, a really important skill needed in my profession,” he says.
Back on UK soil, it wasn’t long before he landed a job at the Evening Chronicle and The Journal in Newcastle.
“This was a fantastic job and a great opportunity to learn more about news and sport photography. But I wanted more; I wanted to cover a wider variety of assignments and had my heart set on the national media.”
An opening for a photographer in the North East office of the Press Association served up the opportunity he was looking for… and he’s been there for nearly 30 years.
“I’ve photographed everything from the visit of Nelson Mandela and George Bush to royal weddings and tours of Pakistan and Afghanistan. From the beauty of astro and weather photography, the agony and ecstasy of football World Cups and Olympic Games to the pressure of capturing breaking world news stories such as The Queen’s death… it has been an incredibly varied career.”
Having had photography as his proper job since he was just 16, Owen believes that being a good photographer is about having patience and the eye for a picture. “Freezing that moment in time along with the composition… but I’d say enjoying your photography is the most important.
“For me there is nothing better than having a picture published so others can enjoy your work.”
Football and the dark skies across Northumberland and Cumbria sit at the top of Owen’s photography league table, while he reckons the most challenging thing about his job is getting “that different picture to everyone else and coming up with new picture ideas”.
Worldwide wildlife assignments would be Owen’s dream job — but he already branches out from his PA work during time off.
“I take a small group of photographers to Iceland for a five-day photography workshop maybe once or twice a year to capture the Northern Lights and photograph Iceland’s beautiful landscape,” he says.
You can follow Owen on Twitter @owenhumphreys1 and on Instagram @owenhumphreys.
The Duchess of Cambridge portrait is my favourite picture I’ve taken of Kate.
This was on a 10-day tour of Pakistan with Prince William. I love this picture of her because it’s such a natural relaxed look on her face as if there’s no cameras about, and it’s set off with the traditional clothes she is wearing.
What an incredible experience flying high over Northumberland alongside a World War II Tiger Moth with the stunning Bamburgh Castle as a backdrop.
You could have the wind through your hair and take a pleasure flight from Eshott airfield in Northumberland in one of these magnificent aeroplanes.
I chose King Charles and Queen Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace because this was such an iconic day in the British monarchy.
This was my first big assignment for the Press Association and a surreal one at that. I was the only photographer on this shoot and it was at the then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s house in Sedgefield.
It was an amazing experience having coffee in the living room and walking around the gardens with the Prime Minister and Nelson Mandela on his first visit to the UK.
This was one of my sporting highlights — Super Saturday at London 2012, when Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all won gold in an unforgettable 44 minutes inside the Olympic Stadium.
This picture is what is called a slow shutter pan shot capturing the movement and speed of Mo Farah heading to the finish line to win the gold medal. This image of Mo winning his medal won me an award too.
I’ve photographed many pop stars and singers but I chose the Spice Girls because of the colourful outfits and the fact they were the world’s most famous girl band.
I shoot a lot of weather pictures but this one at Seaham is my favourite just for the sheer power of the sea and height of the waves. What’s very important in this picture is the light against the dark sky which makes the details pop out.
I love photographing the Northern Lights and capturing them in the North East and Cumbria where I’ve had some amazing results.
This was one of the strongest displays I’ve captured in northern England, taken at Derwentwater near Keswick. I always look for a landmark or subject for my northern lights pictures, this had everything from reflections to an old fashioned boat.
I travelled abroad with the England team for nearly 13 years in World Cups, Euros and many qualifiers.
I thought 2018 was finally going to be the time I saw them lift the trophy, but it was not to be — it went to France. However, I was lucky enough to stay in Russia and cover the final where I captured this image of the winning French team celebrating with the World Cup.
I love the emotion and expressions of delight on the players’ faces — the torrential rain made it very difficult to work but made for some great pictures.
I love being out photographing the night sky.
Northumberland’s dark skies offer one of the best places I’ve been able to capture the Milky Way. This one of Dunstanburgh Castle is one of my favourites with the core of the Milky Way on show with hundreds and thousands of stars, and a lone figure for scale.