Looking down a river with several bridges
Monochrome Madness,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Photographic techniques,  Travel galleries

Gallery: seeing Newcastle in black and white

Cause that was when coal was king

The river was a living thing

And I was just a boy

But it was mine

The coaly Tyne

Jimmy Nail, Big River

When I first started visiting in the early 1980s Newcastle upon Tyne did seem like a city in black and white. Once a great industrial hub it had been hard hit by the closure of the shipyards and coal mines of the region. Its once grand buildings were blackened by soot and its eponymous river was polluted and neglected.

But that was forty years ago. Today the phrase ‘black and white’ remains synonymous with the city, as these are the colours of the football team’s strip! But that apart, the city has totally reinvented itself since the days of my first visits and today has plenty of colour.

However for this week’s Monochrome Madness I want to share some edits of favourite photos taken around the city, starting with the River Tyne and its bridges. I’ve posted plenty of photos of these previously, but always I think in colour.

Looking down a river with several bridges

Bridges over the Tyne


River with several bridges

Tyne bridges from the Quayside


Silhouettes of people crossing a bridge

Silhouetted pedestrians on the High Level Bridge


Girders and lamppost on a bridge

Detail of the Tyne Bridge in silhouette


Reflection of an arched bridge in a river

Tyne Bridge reflection


Road leading under iron bridge beams

The road level of the High Level Bridge (trains run on the upper level)


River God sculpture and the Millennium Bridge

Stone figure on a column and part of a bridge

Stone figure on a column

Siren, companion piece to River God


Statue of William L Blenkinsop Coulson, a Victorian benefactor

Stone statue with a river behind it

Stone statue with a seagull perched on its head

Statue of Cardinal Basil Hume, a native of Newcastle


Grey’s Monument, built in 1838 to commemorate the passing of Prime Minister Earl Grey’s Great Reform Bill of 1832

Tall column with a stone figure at the top

Old buildings around a grassy courtyard

The former Black Friars Monastery, now a (very good) restaurant


Partly derelict buildings

Old buildings in Ouseburn, a tributary of the Tyne just downstream from the city centre


Lamp shaped like an oriental lantern

Street lamp on Stowell Street, the heart of the city’s small Chinatown


Detail of the former Sun Insurance Buildings

Stone figure supporting a porch

Sign shaped like the dial of a scale

The old weigh house in the Grainger Market, still providing a popular service for locals


Man sitting beneath a sign advocating drinking coffee

In a Quayside coffee shop

I visit Newcastle regularly; these photos were originally taken between 2012 and 2023 and all edited with Silver Efex Pro in 2023

42 Comments

Do share your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you! And please include your name in case WP marks you 'anonymous' - thank you