Via Flickr:
This video is in response to a challenge set by TheJadedSoul as part of the Get Pushed group. In Joel’s words …

"On to the push. Here’s the idea, a photo essay. I was thinking, since you have a little bit of everything in your photostream, why not tie them all together? The idea of the photo essay is to capture the feeling/mood of an event or activity in a series of 5 to 7 photos. Kinda like telling the story of the event through the photos."

… I must confess that I was filled with trepidation when I read this – waaaaayyy out of my comfort zone – concentrating on the conceptual rather than the technical which is what I think I enjoy but the thought occurred to me that I could build a story around a shot that I had had in mind for quite some time where a certain object would be unceremoniously destroyed. And so Joel’s 5-7 shots became 17 as I warmed to the challenge and sought out every pertinent snippet of history that I could find. I am very pleased with my end result (although I am no Spielberg) and I truly hope that this meets the spirit of the challenge – in a way this has reignited my interest in photography which was waning a bit recently as I had lost direction and focus – and for that I sincerely thank Joel.

NOTE: Joel has expressed a preference to see the images together on a single page so I have related my "story" in a montage as well.

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The background …

When Mike Ashley bought out Freddie Shepherd there was a lot of excitement in The Toon. The money grabbing **** was gone and the club could look to the future and indeed the future looked bright.

King Kev was brought back and things were on the up … until they turned sour of course – clueless idiots were brought in to run the club, King Kev was gone again and footballing decisions were being made by people with no more knowledge of the game than the corner post! And so a massive push to get rid of Mike Ashley and his posse was born!

This story isn’t about that though – this story is about more recent events when Mike Ashley was finally beginning to win the fans over – recently promoted back into the Premiership as Championship winners, some solid signings producing entertaining football and a frankly unbelievable league position hovering in and around a Champions League spot let alone Europa League and finally things were looking every bit as rosie as any Toon fan dared hope for …

… but then Mike Ashley spoils it by trampling all over the club’s proud history – bestowing his tacky, knock-out-for-pennies brand on the beloved St James’ Park !!!

That’s what my story is about – the travesty that is the "Sp**ts D****t Arena".

But to The Toon as one it lives on as St James’ Park …