Photographing Civic Station to Steel St, Newcastle West

Never before have I seen so many signs informing me where I can not park, or that the area I am in is under 24 hour video surveillance. This section of Newcastle West is the epitome of our city - thriving businesses contrasted with vacant blocks and run-down buildings. Last week I heard Newcastle artist Trevor Dickinson speak at Look Hear. He described his imagery of Newcastle as a documentation of the truth of the city rather than presenting it as a glossy magazine holiday destination, and that resonated with me a lot. That isn’t to say that Newcastle doesn’t have some beautiful locations, but there is always the other side of the coin. There is a certain aesthetic quality to the dilapidation, but one can only hope it is not destined to be like that forever. I suppose we can always fill the empty blocks with more KFC.

Each week “The Grid” features photos of a selected area of the Newcastle & Hunter region, capturing moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Ben is a 21 year old photographer who loves capturing the emotion of a moment. He focuses on wedding & portrait photography, but doesn't mind trying his hand at other genres from time to time either. Ben spends most of his spare time reading about photography, practicing new photography techniques and spending all his money on new photography toys. Growing up in Gloucester & moving after completing school, he is now studying a Bachelor of Business at the University of Newcastle. A self-confessed geek, you can follow his stream of consciousness on Twitter or see the latest work on his blog.

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2 comments

The guys from the sour dough bakery did a good appraisal of the state of Newcastle west in their blog http://sourdoughbakercoop.blogspot.com/2011/07/mainstreet-evolution-in-west-end.html, I would love to see some of their suggestions taken seriously.

uraok

Hi Ben, great photos of a difficult area. It was great meeting you on friday night at NFW. Looking forward to seeing some of the shots you got. Cheers, Laure.

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