Our next Archive feature focuses on British News, Sports and Entertainment agency North News & Pictures who joined Alamy back in late 2025 sharing with us their immense archive that they’ve been adding to over the last 40 years. Based in the heart of Newcastle their collection is all things Geordie focusing on important moments throughout Newcastle’s history, from iconic construction works to the joy of Newcastle United winning the Carabao Cup.
I had the pleasure of speaking with North News & Pictures’ Managing Director Victoria Williams who has been with the agency for 17 years taking over from the original founders Ted Ditchburn and Jane Morton. Over the years North News has become one of the most respected press agencies in the country supplying award-winning photography to local news outlets and growing its historic collection through diligent digitising.
Read on to find out about how North News & Pictures got started and how their photographers have captured some of the North’s most iconic images.
Fog on the Tyne as a blanket of fog cloaked the River Tyne in Newcastle and Gateshead where beams of sunlight passed through the Tyne Bridge
SH: Please can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started working with North News & Pictures?
VW: I joined North News & Pictures in 2009 as a trainee reporter, and since then have covered some of the biggest breaking news stories to hit the North East and Cumbria. They have included the Derrick Bird massacre, Raoul Moat siege and scandal of the grooming gangs. More recently, alongside my colleagues, I have covered the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree and riots of summer 2024.
I have been privileged to work alongside some of the most talented press photographers in the business, and from very early on in my career, I understood the power of an image to tell a story. I took over North News & Pictures from its previous owners in 2020, after they retired. Since then, we have continued to build upon our picture archive of one million digital images, and our reputation as one of the most respected press agencies in the country.
SH: North News & Pictures has been operating for over 40 years now, what have been some of the hurdles you’ve had to overcome as the agency transitioned into the digital age?
VW: The biggest challenge has been the digitising of our negative archive, which consists of millions of images, taken across 80 years. Peter Daniels is in the process of carrying out this painstaking task, which involves scanning in each negative strip by hand. It is of utmost importance that the caption and metadata are accurate, and this takes time.
We transitioned to digital cameras very early on, and were the first agency outside of London to purchase them in 1994. This transformed the way we worked, enabling us to send pictures in real time, instead of coming back to the office to develop the negatives in our darkroom. This gave us a huge advantage over our competitors.
SH: Your collection features thousands of historic images, some being over 100 years old, how important is it to maintain and preserve this photographic history?
VW: We believe our archive is unique, and there is no other collection of images of the North East and Cumbria as comprehensive or large. It contains pictures of every major sports and news event to have happened in the region since the mid 80’s, as well as older images which date back to the early 20th century. We’re very proud to be the custodians of such a precious piece of history and of course it is incredibly important to ensure it is preserved.
SH: Your archive is heavily influenced by Newcastle and other Northern English areas, what makes this area so special?
VW: The North East has a strong industrial heritage, which its residents are fiercely proud of. Coal mining, shipbuilding and engineering were once the lifeblood of the region, but have now given way to offshore renewables, green energy and pioneering life sciences.
Meanwhile, Newcastle city centre is a major cultural hub, steeped in history. A heady mix of cocktail bars and ancient ruins, elegant Georgian architecture and high end shops, with a Greggs bakery on every corner, there really is no place like it on earth. And that’s without mentioning the iconic Quayside with its world famous Tyne Bridge. On the other side of the country, the Lake District boasts some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Our pictures capture the North East and Cumbria in all their glory.
SH: A large portion of your current Alamy collection focuses on the past and present of Newcastle United, what was it like for your photographers to capture the locals after the team had won the Carabao Cup last year?
VW: Chief photographer Raoul Dixon said: “The atmosphere was electric. It was a sight I never thought I would witness in Newcastle city centre – even the club underestimated how many would turn out. More than one million fans packed into the streets.
It was something I had been waiting my entire career to photograph, and I wanted to be prepared. We walked the entire route in advance to work out the best vantage points. I ended up in a multi story car park on Percy Street, and was there six hours before the start of the parade to make sure I got a spot.
It was worth it, because I managed to take some unique shots of the fans from above, unlike any other photographs from that day.”
SH: Your photographers have an amazing eye for weather images, how important is creativity and composition alongside also telling a great story with photography?
VW: Raoul Dixon said: “Composition and creativity are imperative when it comes to telling a story with a picture. With any image, it’s very important that when someone looks at it, they immediately understand what is happening.
At North News we work hard, and often jump through hoops, in order to create strong, attention-grabbing pictures. It very rarely, if ever, happens by chance.
Planning is another important aspect, and having the foresight to position yourself in the right place, at the right time.”
SH: Why did you choose Alamy to supply your images to?
VW: We chose Alamy because it has a huge global reach, and we feel confident our content will be showcased to the greatest number of clients. We also agree with Alamy’s ethos of only supporting authentic imagery, as opposed to digitally enhanced or AI created pictures.
SH: What is your favorite series of images in the North News & Pictures collection?
VW: My favourite collection has to be our images of the Tyne Bridge, mid-construction. I find the photograph of a 1920s man gazing out at the river as the iconic structure just starts to take shape fascinating. There has been so much change on the quayside since the bridge was built, yet it has become a symbol of permanence and is synonymous with home for so many Geordie people.
Raoul Dixon cites pictures showing industrial and cultural change as among his favourite. He photographed the last coal pit to close, at Ellington, Northumberland, in January 2005, when he shot images of a miner working his final shift.
Raoul was present as the city’s iconic Millennium Bridge was delivered to the quayside and was the only photographer to take pictures from a helicopter, when Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North was installed in Gateshead.
He is also a fan of our political images, and the world famous picture of Margaret Thatcher walking over the “wasteland” of Stockton on Tees is one of his favourites.
Raoul says covering the start of “New Labour” in the 90’s was an exciting time, with North News photographers granted exclusive access to Tony Blair’s constituency home in Sedgefield County Durham.
The only official photographer at Mo Mowlam’s wedding was a North News snapper, while we covered the christening of Tony Blair’s youngest child Leo. Images of Peter Mandelson and Alan Milburn in the intimate setting of their homes also form part of our political collection.
