Westgate Hill Cemetery - photos for you to use in your Halloween posts

in #photography8 years ago (edited)

Introduction

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Yesterday I visited Westgate Hill Cemetery in Newcastle to obtain some shots of gravestones for people to use in their Halloween posts and also potentially to be used for Remembrance Sunday. Westgate Hill Cemetery is a good choice because it mainly contains older graves (the most recent ones being from WWI) which makes it unlikely that any of the photos will upset living family members - an important consideration if you are trying to be sensitive to the families of those who are deceased.

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The cemetery is located next to a busy main road, Westgate Road, which actually famous for having a large concentration of motorcycle shops (those are much further along though and not pictured).

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A sad state of affairs

This would be a beautiful place were it not for the fact that it is in considerable disarray. Apparently it is a popular venue for drunks and drug users which became apparent when I saw the numbers of bottles of alcoholic drinks, beer cans and general rubbish. Sadly the council does not consider it a priority to clean it despite it being a "Grade II registered Historic Park and Garden".
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There are too many photos to show in this post so please have a look through the SteemImg folder if you want to see more. These shots are meant for you to use in your own posts as per Steemit4free.


Processing

I have tried to process these using some sepia and copper tone black and white filters (monochrome shots) which I feel gives more of a vintage feel. For the colour photos I have used some curves adjustment to give a more dreamy feel and accentuate the autumn colours.
Unfortunately the conditions meant that I often had to make a choice between exposing for the highlights in the sky or detail in the shadows.

The shot below is a good example of the vast dynamic range that I was trying to capture:

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As is often the case - I could see a lot more detail in both the shadows and the highlights with my eyes than the camera could capture here.


The Main Shots

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If you like my work and aren't already, please follow me and check out my blog (I mainly discuss photography but I do other topics too) - @thecryptofiend


Camera: Nikon D800 with Sigma 24-70mm/2.8 lens.


Photo Credits: All photos are my own unless otherwise stated and free for you to use under the terms of Steemit4free


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Looks like this guy had a little too much to drink

Lol. Yes I should have put that as a caption:)

That place is creepy.

If it is was better maintained it would be really nice but it's sad that it seems to be falling apart and nobody cares. There is a really nice cemetery near where I live and it is well kept and people visit it all the time - it doesn't seem creepy at all.

This one is completely barren during the day because of the state it's in and that makes it feel eerie. The only people that go there now are drug users and drunks at night and you can see the evidence of bottles, cans, paper and drug paraphernalia all around. It was hard to get shots that didn't include this junk.

It is really sad. These people may be dead but they still deserve some dignity and respect.

borrowed one pic for my latest poem post. Thanks for allowing use of you photos. :-)

No problem. Glad you could use it:)

Now we have to come up with some good stories to go with these pics!

Yes its up to all of you now. These are only a selection of the total. Also today I went to another cemetery so may be posting up some more soon.

Wait, it's up to us? I love coming up with stories ;)

Great pictures by the way! Great pictures.

Yes they can be stories or what ever kind of post you want to use them in:) Thanks! I have more that I have yet to process - they were taken right at sunset so I'm not sure if they will be too dark or not.

Fantastic set of images. Thank you for sharing them.

You're welcome:)

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Hang on, you're in Newcastle? I grew up there.

Have I found a fellow crypto geordie?

I'm from Sunderland though lol! Close enough I've never really believed in the Sunderland/Newcastle rivalry:) Most of my oldest friends are Geordies and I went to school in Newcastle too. Do you ever come up to the Northeast?

Haven't been up north for over a decade (wow I feel old) but I never got the rivalry either.

If I was like the people I knew in high school i'd be obligated to refer to you know as a "mackam" and say "like" a lot.

Lol yes. You really must come back here. Let me know if you do and we can meet up:)