A few years ago a friend of mine, Ben Alldred, started a metal festival with his then band mate ‘Metal’ Ken Turner.  They organised a metal festival every year, with all proceeds going to charity.  A few years down the line and they have both left the band that they started the festival with, but it still goes on every year with Paul Hartburn organising things now.

This year was no different, and with over £1,500 taken, and some excellent bands travelling from London, Glasgow and even Sweden to play for free to support the gig it once again proved that people in the metal scene do care about contributing to a good cause as well as hearing some excellent death, thrash groove and just about any other kind of metal. I head along and try to get pics for the bands every year, so here are a few from the day:

The rest of the pics can be seen in my gallery by clicking here.

~Shepy

This is a site I’ve explored many times, probably one of the sites I have explored the most in fact, but yet it still manages to throw up new things when you go off the beaten track a little bit.  After seeing a pic by a friend of something I hadnt seen, i decided to head back up there and poke about some more. Click images to enlarge.

A private room in St Mary's Asylum
A nicely decayed bathroom in St Mary's Asylum	A discarded chair at St Mary's Asylum
Upstairs or down, St Mary's Asylum	Radiator and lights, St Mary's Asylum
Rotting corridor, St Mary's Asylum	Rusting radiator, St Mary's Asyl
Trio of radiators, St Mary's Asylum

The rest of the set can be seen in my gallery by clicking here

As ever, comments and suggestions welcome.

~Shepy

As some of you may or may not be aware Richard Dawkins, the popular science author, spoke at the Lib Dem conference in September about the blight of the UK libel laws stifling the international scientific community.

Dawkins explained how many companies are using the draconian libel laws to silence, financially cripple and ultimately hinder any scientific study or paper which might damage their business in any way.  What is especially galling about this is the fact that the large corporations are going after the individual carrying out the research in many cases and not the publishing entity, generating hundreds of thousands in legal fees for the scientist. Obviously this can cause a reluctance to publish findings for fear of being sued, and can lead to the slow down in advancement of our knowledge, understanding and development as a people. The very thought that someone may avoid some particularly innovative research into something such as cancer simply because they can not afford the financial problems that it may bring when they are sued is simply staggering. Case in point being Simon Singh, a widely respected author who had the audacity to challenge the chiropractors claims of being able to help with sleeping problems, ear infections and asthma through chiropractic treatments.  Mr Singh is now wrought in a legal battle with the British Chiropractic Association which has cost him at least £100,000 to date alone. More info can be found on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh#Chiropractic_lawsuit

Today I received an email from a friend highlighting a new petition which is aimed at changing all of this, bringing about real change in the libel laws with an aim to improving free speech, scientific debate and publishing of findings.  As someone with a deep interest in science in its many facets, and living in Newcastle which is often dubbed the City Of Science I felt it almost a duty to sign the petition and I think you should too.

The petition, and more information, can be found at: http://www.libelreform.org/sign and after you’ve signed the petition the site will even send an email to your local MP on your behalf if you so wish.

Thanks for taking a moment to read this, from myself and no doubt future generations who would be helped by the scientific advances made by the removal of this fear of ill founded libel claims.

~Shepy

Another night out taking photos, this time around a local cemetery which was lit superbly. Click to enlarge pics.

Walking up to the cemetery	Path along the back of the church
Headstones and shadows
Path at the side of the church
More headstones

As ever, comments and suggestions welcome.

~Shepy

My friend Paul and I decided to spend our Saturday having a look at the excellent exhibition at the Side Gallery of ‘Women In Prison’ with photographs of incarcerated women taken in prisons throughout the world, spanning a decade worth of work for photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood. It really is an excellent exhibition with some seriously powerful and thought provoking images, and best of all it’s free so you really have no excuse not to go see it!

After the exhibition we thought we would wander about the town doing some street photography, and here are some of the images from the day. Click images to enlarge.

Skaters at the Bigg Market
A skater jumps as his mates look on	Jumping the steps
More jumping down the stairs
Skater jumping down the stairs
The Long Stairs, Newcastle	Brave cyclist riding down the Long Stairs
Sax-o-ma-phone on Northumberland Street	Trumpet playing on Northumberland Street
Overgrown gravestone at St Andrew
Skater at the law courts	Mid air when skating
I believe i can fly....	Blinding skaters with flash
More flash-blind skaters	Newcastle Quayside & Tyne Bridge

As ever, comments and suggestions welcome.

~Shepy

I had arranged to go out taking a few pics round the town with a friend of mine tonight, and as luck would have it mist had really set in, which made for a few nice pics

(click to enlarge)

As ever, comments and suggestions welcome

~Shepy

Ok,

So a friend of mine has made a joke site for a mutual friend of ours, as his joke Christmas present.

I’m trying to link farm a bit and get this site to the top of the google rankings.

The help i am looking for, is if you could edit your signatures on forums or provide a link from your site to point over to this site, it would be most appreciated.  For this to work the text of the link has to be Gary Pallas and link to http://www.garypallaswasadirtybirth.co.uk – so the link should look like this Gary Pallas

If you can help, then thank you very much and please comment here to let me know.  If not, then thanks for looking anyway.

~Shepy

Two good friends of mine, Gemma & Shaun, got married in Cyprus in October. As well as inviting me to the wedding, they asked if I wouldn’t mind doing the photos as well, which I was obviously more than happy to help out with.

The wedding was absolutely great, and the entire trip great fun.

Here are a few of the images from the day:

At the champagne reception

Seeing as how I had covered the London Stop the War coalition protest, as there was one a lot closer in Edinburgh, it seemed silly not to head along to photograph that too. The Edinburgh Stop the War protest march was on the 14th November.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Paul and I headed up to Edinburgh and arrived shortly before the protest started.

There was only a fraction of the attendance compared to the London one, but that is to be expected I suppose, even if only due to the size of the respective cities.

The protest marched round the streets of Edinburgh, passing through major shopping and public areas, passing the Edinburgh International Conference Centre where the NATO conference was being held, then continued on down into the Princes Street Gardens.

A few pics from the day (click to enlarge)

The rest of the album can be seen in my gallery here.

~Shepy

Looking out the window tonight I could barely see the other side of the street as a thick fog had descended. As I live right on the banks of the Tyne I couldn’t resist doing a few shots of the well known of “Fog on the Tyne”.  Click images to enlarge.

Pathway along the Tyne

Dunston Staiths in the fog

Tyne Bridge disappearing into the fog

Swing bridge in the fog

Fog on the Tyne

Comments and suggestions welcome

~Shepy