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Here is a developing collection of photographs taken around Teesside, Cleveland, and the North East of England. Do browse down through the images as I add new ones from time to time - the update above will help you to see if I have added anything! (Please be patient while the pictures load...)
A dramatic view of the contrasts of Teesside, small fishing boats at Paddy's Hole on the South Gare, the magnificent Tees estuary, and dramatic spring clouds. I was lucky enough to get BBC Look North to show this as one of their weather pictures on 06/03/03. Then I was amazed to find it in the last four in the March monthly weather photo competition.... and then I found I had won. A rather overcome Mike says a huge thank you to Look North and all who voted.
Another photograph taken on the South Gare on the Tees Estuary - I like the colours and ordered arrangement of the fishing boats.
Roseberry Topping is one of our local landmarks - only 320 m high, but visible from most parts of Teesside.
If you have the energy to climb Roseberry Topping when the weather is fine you can be rewarded with views of the hills like this one. Great Ayton nestles in the middle ground.
Here's another view of Roseberry Topping and Captain Cook's Monument taken from the Flatts Lane Country Park on the last afternoon in November.
This photograph of a wind-sculpted tree was taken on the same afternoon as the picture above, but this time looking to the North from the Flatts Lane Country Park. Teesside is a magical mixture of natural and man-made features!
At the top of the Park there is this fascinating group of trees.. there is a better photograph to be had, but this isn't too bad a first effort!
Sunsets are things that I find to be rather illusive photographically speaking. This one turned out very true to life and much better than usual.
The colours in this sunset were wonderful - the mature hornbeams give great foreground detail.
The Tees Barrage ensures that upstream the River Tees is not tidal, and provides great water sports facilities, as well as a concert and leisure venue. Here is the canoe slalom one peaceful Autumn lunch time (what a great place to escape to from the pressures of work!
The engineering is elegant - this is the pedestrian bridge at the lock at the Barrage.
In the centre of the white water and slalom course is a stage on which concerts and the like can be held.
In Middlesbrough town centre there is this amazing contemporary sculpture called "The Bottle of Notes" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (giving us the same standing in art as Barcelona, Chicago, Dusseldorf and Los Angeles) and linking the art to the history of Captain Cook, a famous local. Behind the bottle you can see the new law courts.
There are many interesting bridges across the Tees. The Newport Bridge used to be a vertical lift bridge, lifting its span to allow river traffic up to Stockton. It opened officially in 1934, and was finally sealed in the down position in 1990 when the Tees Barrage was opened.
The Transporter Bridge is a wonderful example of bridge engineering. It was built in 1911 and comprises a platform suspended on wires from an overhead carriage which is winched across the river every 15 minutes carrying cars, cyclists and pedestrians between Middlesbrough and Port Clarence. With a clearance of 160 feet (somewhat less than 50m) the design ensures that very large shipping could pass unhindered up the Tees (sadly no longer a frequent requirement.) This photograph is taken from the Middlesbrough side - I have yet to find a publicly accessible vantage point to show the span and the river! The next picture proves that the river is there!
Here's a view of the Transporter Bridge platform approaching me as I stand on the Middlesbrough side
Redcar is a local seaside resort with very impressive sands when the tide is out - this is the view on a cold winter's day looking south towards Saltburn (you can just make out the Huntcliffe cliffs in the distance).
When the tide is right out on Redcar's beach, beds of shellfish are exposed, and the feeding waders will let you come quite close! This view is looking towards the North - in the distance we are looking right across the Tees estuary towards Seaton Carew.
On this Thursday morning the combination of beach sea and sky was remarkable in Redcar.
Another Thursday (I'm in Redcar most Thursdays) and the clarity of sea and sky was wonderful - the fisherman helpfully brought his boat ashore in a good place to help the photograph!
When you walk along the front in Redcar you cannot miss the fishing boats safely parked between outings.
The Tall Ships visit the Tees and here's one of them moored in front of the Transporter Bridge and the local clock tower.
The Tees estuary is perhaps most widely known because of its industry. I must get an even wider angle lens to show the whole thing. On this clear winter day the view from Marske Woods was superb, you can see well beyond Hartlepool to the North.
A friend called and said I must view this field of poppies - she was right. This is on the approach to Marske-by-the-Sea, next to Rye Hills farm in June 2005.
We are privileged to be able to see the Cleveland Hills from our house - here is a view just after a late Autumn dawn. The Bilsdale TV transmitter (some 15 miles away) is clearly visible.
Every Spring Mulgrave Castle near Whitby opens its gardens to visitors when they are a wonderful sight with drifts of daffodils and other Spring flowers.