Tweed Bridges

On a recent trip to Northumberland with Rick (Rick Bowden Photography on here) we called into Berwick Upon Tweed on our last morning before we headed back south after a great week of photography. We were there to pick up my daughter Jasmine who was coming home for a few days, she was travelling down from Edinburgh on the train and we were going to pick her up from Berwick station and she would then travel back to Norfolk with us.

Me and Rick had a couple of hours to kill and we had a lovely wander around the town which we both really enjoyed. There’s lots of potential for photography and to use the old Jon and Rick classic ‘ It would look great in fog!!!’. Not on this visit though, it was bright and crisp with the occasional spectacular cloud, beautiful weather.

I don’t think this will be the last time I walk around the town with camera in hand.

One of the areas that really fascinated me was the bridges over the River Tweed, the Royal Border Bridge is a stunning example of railway architecture and the Royal Tweed bridge is , shall we say, a little more brutal but nonetheless fascinating to shoot. Unfortunately Berwick Bridge is being worked on at present so there is scaffolding all over it so we couldn’t complete a hat trick of bridge photography.

It’s a lovely spot down by the river. We first walked to the Royal Border bridge and shot it’s wonderful aging contours. As we were shooting there was an occasional smell of weed in the air!!! We never did work out where it was coming from, it was like walking in the town centre back home in Great Yarmouth!!!!!!

What a stunning monument to victorian engineering the bridge is!!! I didn’t do it justice in the very few images I took but it was simply fascinating to stand and admire it from up close.

Bizarrely, the Royal Tweed Bridge was the bridge that got the most photographic attention! The lamps on it, though modern, are a wonderful shape and beneath the roadway are wonderful arches that are perfect for graphic images. It was definitely going to be a black and white subject

I think we were both really entertained by the scene before us and we were soon looking for pedestrians crossing the bridge with a view to include them in the images.

I don’t do this type of photography enough!!!

Really pleased with this one!!!!!

This couple knew we were photographing them!!! They were looking for wildlife along the river and as we walked through town later we couldn’t help keep bumping into them. Bless them, hope they had a great day.

It only took my approximately twenty attempts to get this little devil in focus. Good job he didn’t have much to do that morning!

Brutality and beauty? Nah, not really. The Royal Tweed bridge is just a little less beautiful. Pleased with the capture of the train on this one.

To quote Rush:

Curves and lines,

of grand designs

Posing pigeons, this could have done with a person crossing, preferably in a crazy hat. Next time……….

Hope you liked the images.

What a lovely morning!

If you’re ever in Berwick Upon Tweed I heartily recommend:

The Northern Edge Cafe - top coffee, cake and sausage rolls.

The Curfew Taproom - superb little taproom with a great selection of beer and lovely atmosphere.

Take care

J