A wonderful photographic day

There was a great Blipmeet on the Tyne today, organised by meancoast (pictured). We met at the Sage, Gateshead which was heaving with Social Enterprise stalls and noisy music. All very jolly but not very conducive to blippers' conversation. We gradually enlarged the space around us by moving one couple from the next table and appropriating the table and by moving one young woman and her table a few feet away!

The cast of thousands thirteen (plus John, a non blipper who apparently cuts off heads in his photographs) enjoyed coffee and then a group photo beneath a new piece of street art. You can see all the art in other people's blips, so I've cropped a close up for an extra, taken by inukshukne (many thanks for that).

Most of us had lunch at the Baltic.

I decided to go and see the newly reopened Side Gallery in Newcastle and arrived as a talk was about to start. The speaker was Liz Hingley, anthropologist and photographer. It was fascinating stuff and there was an interesting discussion at the end. I wished we could have talked more about the responsiblity of photographers to their subjects after the project is over but the images are still freely available. How do asylum seekers feel about their image being on the web, etc.

I need time to digest it all, but, for now, I'm just enjoying the feeling of a great day out.