Club Meeting, An Evening with Harry Hall - Tuesday 13th January 2026.
On Tuesday 13th January, Morpeth Camera Club welcomed back Guest Speaker Harry Hall FRPS. An outstanding
documentary photographer, Harry gave a presentation on two local projects Recyke Y’Bike and Newcastles’ Street
Pastors. He opened the evening by saying that his love of documentary photography grew from his experiences
of visiting remote areas to isolated communities and his interest in their way of life. He explained the difference
between documentary photography, which tells a factual story visually and is a record of information, and of
photojournalism, which illustrates a written or verbal story and contemporary photography, which is an artistic
interpretation of an issue.
He went on to show work undertaken at Recyke Y’Bike, a charity in the North East that specialises in refurbishing
donated bikes and selling them at reasonable prices to fund their charitable objectives and outreach activities. For
some, the subject might seem to be mundane, so Harry had to introduce an interesting aspect of their work and
found that by talking to the individual workers he could tell the charity’s story through their portraits which revealed
their personalities and their dedication. We enjoyed seeing photographs illustrating personal pride, problem solving
and tenacity. We also saw images of Saturday youth groups who were involved in care of their own bikes. The charity
provides the initiative for the youth to interact with others, to become skilled and to promote confidence, purpose,
pride and a sense of value. Harry’s images brought the charity to life and highlighted how rewarding the work can
be to all involved.
The second half of Harry’s presentation illustrated the work of the Newcastle Night Pastors who are mostly church
members with a concern for their local community, willing to provide a listening ear and practical help. The trained
volunteer Street Pastors patrol the streets of Newcastle city centre at weekends, helping people who find themselves
vulnerable or marginalised. They work in small teams, give cards out to young people with contact numbers to a
central exchange dedicated to solving emergencies at night and how they can get help if needed. People may have
drunk too much, lost their mates, forgotten which hotel they are staying in and can be disorientated.
The Night Pastors look out for individuals and take care of them, making sure that they are ok. They work in tandem
with the emergency services, hotel receptions and security door staff and over a period of a year Harry followed the
Pastors around, taking photographs of issues which had occurred. Harry entertained the audience with many funny
anecdotes and told stories about providing flip-flops to bare footed girls, giving food tokens to those living on the
streets, contacting parents, and not least, returning a gentleman to his care home. His atmospheric monochrome
images set the scene perfectly, documenting the phenomena which is Newcastle at the weekend.
A short Q & A followed which covered night time lighting, Iso problems and being unobtrusive to passers-by. Club
chairman Jeremy Cooper thanked Harry for a fascinating and informative presentation after which refreshments
were enjoyed after another great evening at the club.
Steph.
documentary photographer, Harry gave a presentation on two local projects Recyke Y’Bike and Newcastles’ Street
Pastors. He opened the evening by saying that his love of documentary photography grew from his experiences
of visiting remote areas to isolated communities and his interest in their way of life. He explained the difference
between documentary photography, which tells a factual story visually and is a record of information, and of
photojournalism, which illustrates a written or verbal story and contemporary photography, which is an artistic
interpretation of an issue.
He went on to show work undertaken at Recyke Y’Bike, a charity in the North East that specialises in refurbishing
donated bikes and selling them at reasonable prices to fund their charitable objectives and outreach activities. For
some, the subject might seem to be mundane, so Harry had to introduce an interesting aspect of their work and
found that by talking to the individual workers he could tell the charity’s story through their portraits which revealed
their personalities and their dedication. We enjoyed seeing photographs illustrating personal pride, problem solving
and tenacity. We also saw images of Saturday youth groups who were involved in care of their own bikes. The charity
provides the initiative for the youth to interact with others, to become skilled and to promote confidence, purpose,
pride and a sense of value. Harry’s images brought the charity to life and highlighted how rewarding the work can
be to all involved.
The second half of Harry’s presentation illustrated the work of the Newcastle Night Pastors who are mostly church
members with a concern for their local community, willing to provide a listening ear and practical help. The trained
volunteer Street Pastors patrol the streets of Newcastle city centre at weekends, helping people who find themselves
vulnerable or marginalised. They work in small teams, give cards out to young people with contact numbers to a
central exchange dedicated to solving emergencies at night and how they can get help if needed. People may have
drunk too much, lost their mates, forgotten which hotel they are staying in and can be disorientated.
The Night Pastors look out for individuals and take care of them, making sure that they are ok. They work in tandem
with the emergency services, hotel receptions and security door staff and over a period of a year Harry followed the
Pastors around, taking photographs of issues which had occurred. Harry entertained the audience with many funny
anecdotes and told stories about providing flip-flops to bare footed girls, giving food tokens to those living on the
streets, contacting parents, and not least, returning a gentleman to his care home. His atmospheric monochrome
images set the scene perfectly, documenting the phenomena which is Newcastle at the weekend.
A short Q & A followed which covered night time lighting, Iso problems and being unobtrusive to passers-by. Club
chairman Jeremy Cooper thanked Harry for a fascinating and informative presentation after which refreshments
were enjoyed after another great evening at the club.
Steph.