autofantasia's photos with the keyword: Teesside

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the theme was anywhere you can receive or send mail . Royal Mail painted more than 100 of its iconic and much-loved red post boxes gold to celebrate each and every gold medal won during the London 2012 Olympic Games and subsequent Paralympic Games. The post boxes are to remain permanently gold to mark the achievements of the athletes and the historic Games. There's even a dedicated website which shows where the Gold Postboxes are to be found across the UK. This particular one located in Ingleby Barwick was painted to celebrate Katherine Copeland winning gold in the women's lightweight double sculls. Kat Copeland, as she's more commonly known, had only been in the senior GB Rowing Team squad for two seasons when she and Sophie Hosking won their historical medal, the first Olympic title ever for the GB lightweight women’s squad. The look of wide-eyed disbelief on Kat’s face at the end of the race has become one of the most memorable images of London 2012. And although after the Games Sophie Hosking retired and Kat herself took a break away from the sport she soon returned to competition and went on to win several major events with new partner Charlotte Taylor. Sadly though they did not do well at the recent Rio Games where they were knocked out at the repechage stage. However, the look of sheer joy and disbelief on her face after winning gold in 2012 has forever earned her a place in the heart of the nation. If you didn't see the race, or simply want to watch and enjoy Kat's reaction once again simply click here . As for Kat's gold post box I've included an overall shot of it in the Notes for those who may never have seen one of them before. Also, belatedly for Sight and Sound , what else but Spandau Ballet and Gold ... youtu.be/ntG50eXbBtc youtu.be/gSq8ZBdSxNU youtu.be/VQ4qrcHyYj4

Just another take on last week's Sunday Challenge which had the theme of front page news . Basically, the same design as before, but this time put over a timber background with an added drop shadow down the left hand edge of the 'paper' to try and give a more 3D feel to the final image.

This week's Sunday Challenge had the theme of front page news where we were asked to take one of our shots and then set about making it "look like the front of a newspaper" . Initially, I was rather stumped by this one, but then I remembered some shots I'd taken of an accident in Northallerton some time ago. Although I thought they were interesting images, and had had toyed with the idea of trying to see if any of the local papers wanted to use one, I'd never got around to doing anything with them. So I decided to dust one of them off and use it for this week's media challenge. Rather than use an online newspaper generator or template I elected to create my own front page in Microsoft Publisher, but I took my inspiration from the North Yorkshire News which is a local paper distributed free of charge to households across the region. I took careful measurements from a 'real' issue and scanned various elements of it so that they could be incorporated into my own design. The masthead/logo I modified slightly to transform it into the Northallerton News, while the adverts were just dropped in as they were. The biggest problem I had was trying to find fonts on my PC that were similar in style and size to those that are used in the newspaper I'd set out to mimic so to speak. I didn't bother at all with the banner running along the very top of the page, but did try very hard to match those used elsewhere. Once I had the layout looking the way I wanted it I next set about creating both my headlines before writing the article as best I could. If you check in the Notes you'll find a section of an original North Yorkshire News front page for comparison purposes along with a close-up of the article itself just in case the one in the main image is too small to read on screen.

The theme this week for those involved with The Sunday Challenge was back-lighting , which sounded so simple and yet a combination of poor weather, few suitable subjects catching my eye and life getting in the way has meant that I've struggled somewhat. In the end I've elected to use this shot, which was really just a quick snap I took when I went up to Middlesbrough with the intention of shooting the Bottle of Notes , a large piece of public art that can be found in the centre of the town. However, the sun wasn't really in the ideal spot at that particular time of day to get the shot I wanted, but I did spot this rather 'ugly duckling' swimming all alone in the pond adjacent to where the sculpture sits. I liked how the sun which was directly ahead of me, but which was obviously coming from behind the bird meant that only the edge of its back was catching the light. The rest of the bird and most of the plants in the embankment behind were as you can see in shade. Ideally, I would have liked the exposure to have been slightly better and I dare say I could have got the focus sharper too, but overall I like how what was a hasty snap has turned out. So ... ugly duckling, what do you have to say for yourself? Not a quack, not a quack, not a waddle or a quack But a glide and a whistle and a snowy white back And a head so noble and high Say who’s an ugly duckling? Not I! Not I!