Beamish Photography Night Revisited

by Stephen Bell

I received an e mail recently from Beamish Museum advising that after the popularity of its first open photography evening in April, it was to run another to coincide with its Power from the Past weekend. With only 200 available, I made sure of getting tickets by ringing the very next morning. I must have been quick off the mark as the 2 tickets ordered were numbers 2 and 3. I then found out that Roy Hurst was number 1 and Tom Noble was number 10. This reminded me just how keen members of Durham Photographic Society can be.

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon as the rain called a halt to the international cricket at Durham, Tom Noble, Roy Hurst, myself and my daughter Samantha, ( yes, I am trying to encourage the next generation of the Bell household) discussed the weather as only the English can. I hoped it would absolutely chuck it down for an hour so as it would add to the drama of the evening. Thoughts of reflections of traction engines and trams on the cobbled streets were high on my agenda but unfortunately the rain ceased and the streets soon dried up.

Upon arrival we were ferried down to the town by the Beamish transport buses and met up with other keen photographers. We then spotted Tony who had been shooting at Wolsingham show earlier in the day. He was flagging already but at this point you did not need much energy as not much was happening. A tram was stuck and this was holding things up.

After what seemed like an age, vehicles arrived in a procession with old trams and buses making their way into the town. Re-enactors appeared and at last we got to work shooting vehicles, taking portraits and chatting to the volunteers of Beamish who had given up their time for our entertainment.

As the time moved on the organisers switched people and props around for a bit of variety, but pretty soon it became dusky, and tripods and flashguns were the order of the day. As someone who avoids using flash it then became a bit of a challenge to get my shots. Dodging people, tripods and other peoples flash can be a bit tricky. However, as Tom said, it was the ideal exercise in getting to know your equipment and improve your skills.

All in all it was well worthwhile going and I for one look forward to the next one. (Oh and for the record, for a complete beginner our Samantha got some canny shots).