By Diane Wailes
Visiting Pete Robinson – AKA ‘Eye of the Tyne Photography’ – in his office in the North Tyneside Business Centre on Saville Street, was a revelation. Not because of his multi-award-winning wedding photography (more about that later) but because of Pete’s passion project, capturing on camera the heart and soul of the North Shields fishing industry.
North Shields is changing, and changing fast. The fishing industry is under pressure and Pete knows that some of the people and activities he’s able to photograph today may not be around in ten or twenty years time. So he’s a man on a mission – to record the working and the home lives of our local fishermen; people who are engaged in one of the UK’s most dangerous industries.
Like all the best documentary photographers, Pete has taken time to get to know the people he photographs, going out with them on fishing trips for ten hours or more, with painfully early starts, rough seas and seasickness to contend with, in the search for pictures that capture the harsh realities and camaraderie of life at sea. Photographs that are so evocative you can almost feel the cold, and smell the heady mix of fish, prawns, diesel and cigarette smoke.
Pete remembers that in the early days some of the fishermen were a little reluctant to be photographed; one of them asked him if he’d been sent to take photos by the Dole Office! But the hundreds of pictures he’s taken since then show the extent to which he’s been accepted by the people he photographs, and also the respect he has for this difficult and dangerous occupation.
Some of Pete’s most poignant photographs were taken onshore: a retired fisherman at home, surrounded by memories of his life at sea; a sign-writer meticulously painting the name on the side of a fishing boat, in exactly the same way the job would have been done a hundred years ago. Taken in both colour and black and white, they’re all high quality images that tell an important story about our town.
Pete told me that his route into photography wasn’t a traditional one. After studying art at college in Co. Durham, where he picked up a camera for the very first time, he joined the RAF and began his training at The Defence School of Photography. When 9/11 happened he was posted to Oman as part of the Army’s Media Operations Group, documenting military operations in the Gulf. Some of his photographs made it onto the front page of national newspapers.
After five years, he returned to civilian life and for a while photography was just a hobby – that is until friends asked him to photograph their wedding, and he was bitten by the photography bug again. With a young family he took what then felt like a big step of setting up ‘Eye of the Tyne’ as a full-time wedding photographer, based in North Shields. But it’s a decision he clearly doesn’t regret.
The majority of his work is in the north east, but photos on his office wall also reveal wedding assignments in far flung, exotic places, including New York, Iceland and Brazil. Pete’s work as a wedding photographer has earned him numerous awards. The one he’s most proud of is the prestigious Junebug Annual Award for the Top 50 Wedding Photos in the World, which he’s won an astonishing three times. The fact that all three of the prize-winning photographs were taken in the north east was the icing on the cake!
I asked Pete, what comes next? With the post-Christmas lull in weddings on the horizon, he’s keen to revisit the thousands of photographs he’s taken over the past ten years as part of his ‘fishermen’s project’. His aim is to produce a book and hold an exhibition locally, with proceeds going to the Fishermen’s Mission – a charity that’s dear to his heart. As well as showcasing the photographs to a wider audience, it would also be a great opportunity to tell the fishermen’s stories as part of North Shields’ 800 celebrations.
And away from the camera, there’s plenty to keep Pete busy, with a young son and daughter, and his passion for football – Newcastle, of course, and also coaching his son’s football team, North Shields Juniors. It’s a busy life and he says he wouldn’t be able to do the job he does, and everything else, without the support of his wife, Sarah.
In his office overlooking the new Globe Gallery and looking across to The Exchange, I asked Pete what he makes of North Shields now. “I’m really proud to be part of the town” was his reply. “North Shields is definitely on the up!”
You can see more of Pete’s work on his website: Wedding Photography – Eye of the Tyne Photography and on his Facebook and Instagram @eyeofthetynephotography
