During my time in Newcastle I made many early morning trips to the glorious North Tyneside coastline, the beaches are some of the best so close to any city in the UK. Running from the mouth of the Tyne up to Whitley bay the coastline forms a photographers playground with rocky outcrops, man made harbors and piers, the historic Tynemouth priory, glorious sandy beaches and to top it off the famous St Mary’s Lighthouse just north of the beaches at Whitley Bay.

St Mary’s Lighthouse

I visited St Mary’s Lighthouse on many occasions over a period of nearly two years, mostly for dawn but also during the sunset hours, the sun here rises perfectly at 90 degrees out over the North Sea and so the lighthouse will always capture beautiful side lighting in the dawn glow. The lighthouse appears differently in all conditions so you will never photograph the same scene twice, the height also makes an impact on opportunities here so care must be taken to check the tide timetables. I have always preferred the tide level over the causeway as I feel this gives the most balanced scene, when the tide is out there are a number of rock formations and rippled sandy beaches for foreground interest.

The lights of town of Blyth can be seen in the distance when shooting from St Marys, these can give a nice backdrop and some depth to the otherwise open views out across the North Sea.

King Edwards Bay and Tynemouth Priory

Longsands Beach - Tynemouth

Longsands Beach at Tynemouth is easily accessible and forms a great spot for early morning photography. Being one of the best surfing beaches in the country and so close to the City of Newcastle, Longsands can get very busy during the day, however early morning is a different story when you can enjoy the huge expanse of sand all to yourself (and a few dog walkers).

Cullercoats Bay

Cullercoats Bay is one of the original fishing villages on the coastline and has a long history of fishing and lifeboat action. The twin sea piers create a perfect semi circular bay which is popular with tourists during the summer month. There are many photographic opportunities in this relatively small area both down on the beach and higher up looking along the cliff.

Cullercoats is also home to one of the best sea arches in the area, I managed to get close enough for some shots looking out to sea past the arch, I have seen pictures from the ledge below but this must have been at a particularly low tide.

Just north of Cullercoats is an old Victorian tidal pool carved into the rocks, I only managed to visit this once but depending on tidal levels the opportunities here are plentiful.

Whitley Bay - North Tyneside

Whitley Bay is a classic Victorian seaside destination; the huge long sandy beach runs for miles all the way up to the lighthouse, there are a number of parking areas which allow easy access to the beach. Whitley Bay beach offers some good interest beneath the ever changing sand, there is a stream which runs out across to the beach and a number of good rock ledges which emerge at certain times of the year.

Seaton Sluice

Further north is Seaton Sluice which is a small inlet allowing fishing boats to shelter and unload their catch, Seaton Sluice offers a few different opportunities moving away from the tourism based Whitley Bay towards the industrial town of Blyth.

You can view more photos from North Tyneside within the Northumberland Gallery >