So my normal yearly pledge to blog more often is yet again broken. However you still get the trusty yearly update.
So 2013… It went fast, It was fun and much has changed.
Lets Get Started ….
In early January I was commissioned to make some new images for The Monster Ceilidh Band for there up and coming album and for general publicity.
In mid-January I started getting ready for a trip to the arctic along with a bunch of nutter togs! This trip would be slightly more epic than others with thousands of snow-covered miles driven over 14 days. We travelled though Sweden, Finland, Norway and back again. Temperatures ranged from + 3 degrees to -38.5 c !
It was hard at times but the sheer beauty of snow covered Scandinavia and getting to briefly witness the Northern lights made the trip worth the expense and effort.
On my return it took me many months to even look at the images. I remember when on location, being very disappointed in not being able to convey the beauty of the surroundings into the camera. This is often the case, sometimes the buffer of time is needed to know if you have succeeded.

I used a GPS tracker on my iPhone to capture the silly route.

A beautiful near-frozen river runs though the snow covered trees near Kiruna | Sweden

Ersfjordbotn | Kvaløya Norway

Hamnøy Coast | Sunrise | Noway

Hamnøy Harbor | Nordland County | Norway

Lofoten Bridge Reflections | Norway

Frozen Iso Syöte communication tower Finland

Sommarøy Arctic Dawn | Norway

Iso Syöte Sledges | Finland

Sommarøy Aurora | Norway
Moving on, literally lots of moving! In 2013 I thought it would be a great idea to move business premises and home over the space of 7 days. It all worked out ok in the end, maybe next time I will not choose to do both at the same time.
We moved out of Newcastle city centre to the small and beautiful village of Hedley On The Hill in Northumberland.

The new improved drive to work
We have probably one of the best local pubs / restaurants called The Feathers Inn and we are surrounded by beautiful countryside.
And it only takes 20 mins to get to my new Office on Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead. It was almost a no brainer. Saying that we still haven’t had any heavy snow fall this year so I might have a different opinion when we do.

Jennifer looking beautiful during a walk in the local woods

The 2013 BBQ season was excellent!

Getting used to cooking on the AGA has been one of 2013 highlights.
For Jennifer’s birthday there was a request for a Kitten but not your normal Tom cat it had to be a Birman. We went to meet the new member of the family around 1 month before we would get to take him home.

Young Teddy Ingram

Teenaged Teddy Ingram
One wasn’t enough, Teddy need some bromance so we decided to get his brother Indigo Tiger too.

Indigo Tiger and Teddy Ingram
Check out my Instagram feed for almost daily kitten updates!
The bulk of my year hasn’t really been photography. It takes a back seat as my Audio Visual rental / Production company Ingramsounds continues to grow.
I have also continued to tour with Karine Polwart Trio & The Unthanks

New Ingramsounds logo / rebrand by Hey Myshko

The new improved Ingramsounds working environment

Ingramsounds continues to be the preferred supplier of Audio system for Durham Cathedral. Fantastic lighting by Vortex Lighting.

Mexican Wrestling
It was a pleasure to work with the team at Vamos! festival in 2013 and looking forward to the 2014 program of events.

This years Durham Book Festival Production was one of the best yet with the addition of the Book Case set designed by the team at Ingramsounds and built by Mike Brown at Durham Scenic Workshops.
Since moving to the Northeast 7 years ago I heard a rumour about the Victoria Tunnels underneath the streets of Newcastle Upon Tyne. In 2013 Ingramsounds supplied lighting for Unit 44’s first, “Into The Dark” art exhibition inside the Victoria Tunnels. It was a fantastic day and a great experience. After running hundreds of meters of power cable and installing the lights for the exhibition there was still time to make some images.

Victoria Tunnels #1

Victoria Tunnels #2
In 2013 Ingramsounds started suppling retro style festoon lighting systems to be used for events, weddings and installations. We now stock a wide range of incandescent filament lamps and festoon harness, in the age of LED everything these lamps offer a vintage looking alternative.

We now hire & resell incandescent filament lamps. globe, squirrel cage, EDISON, & oval types
Have you ever needed an app that can create tones from 20Hz to 20KHz ? Well now you can with the Ingramsounds Oscillator available from the apps store. Simon Athey and myself set out to create a easy to use app for testing speakers, it also has a fun side too. Download it and let us know what you think?
Myself & Jennifer had a wonderful night away in the Lake District visiting friends. I only took a handful of images but this one from Coniston was a 2013 favourite.

Coniston Path
At least once a year I travel to the west of Scotland to photograph many aspects of Barr LTD business. Below are a selection of images taken from the renewable, environmental and quarry aspects.

Onsite with the surfacing team

Harestanes wind farm near completion.

barr quarries

barr environmental

Landfill
Dan Bye asked me to photograph his new show “How to Occupy an Oil Rig” days before it was heading up to the Edinburgh festival. The set was made out of large Lego bricks so I was very excited! Below is one of the promo images I made.

Dan Bye | How to Occupy an Oil Rig | Northern Stage
One big highlight of the summer was being offered the chance to go flying with my friend Sam, I instantly replied yes and jumped in the car with my camera gear and headed to Teesside airport for this mini adventure.

Piper Warrior PA-28-161

Somewhere above County Durham

Durham Cathedral from above

The trusty Pilot Sam Smith

Lone Cloud
I was so happy to have 2 of my North East Aurora images nominated for APOTY (Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

My 2 shortlisted images both can be purchased from my web site. They also appear in the 2012 APOTY book.
In late October Jennifer and myself took a short break to Sorrento, Italy. It was such a wonderful trip, we got very lucky with such amazing weather especially since it was the last week of the season. We explored Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri and we did the stunning Amalfi drive and stopped off at Positano for an ice-cream.

Italian Jennifer

walking around Sorrento

Old Church Doorway | Positano

Blue Lagoon | Capri

Jennifer | Positano

Villa

The Old Mill | Sorrento

Sorrento Pussy

Back Streets | Sorrento
Sorrento was beautiful, I would fully recommend to anyone who wants an interesting break. Especially to any coffee lover!
So thats nearly everything for 2013, Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I will leave you with an image of one of my Granddad’s old cameras. I was given his whole collection and one day I intend to run some film though them. Maybe in 2014 eh…

Granddads Zeiss Ikon
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Happy new year to you all!
Reed