Recently by Anya Bramich

BY total chance, I found myself in Tees Valley the other day which, considering there's a big Photography Festival going on at the moment, was pretty good luck. As a massive photography fan and wannabe photographer, I had noticed this was on but as I rarely make it down the south of the region, I thought I would miss out. So I was almost excited when I realised I was quite close to Hartlepool.

Hartlepool Art Gallery is (to me at least) one of those total hidden gems. It seems to get some superb photography exhibitions - and the Patrick Zachmann was no exception. The Eye of the Long Nose exhibition captured some rarely seen footage of Chinese culture.

WHAT'S a girl supposed to do in this sort of rain? The temptation to stay in all weekend watching DVDs was pretty overwhelming but by Sunday I was going mad with boredom and decided to force myself to head over to Sunderland.

Not one to enjoy spending my time on the Tyne & Wear metro system - I was hoping that the Family Album exhibition at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens was going to be a good one and thankfully the exhibition was worth the soggy journey.

Impressive fact number one about Family Album is that it's an exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery and for some reason that sort of thing excites me. Just the thought of all those works of art making their way up north in the back of a van (a highly ventilated, padded one I am sure) makes me feel all in awe and I definitely think we should have much more of it.