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"It should be ready to publish next summer," Elaina Thompson says hopefully, crossing her fingers.

She's putting the finishing touches to her book Baltic: From Granary to Gallery, a collection of photographs and memories about the grain-silo-turned-arts-centre that's become something of a landmark on the Gateshead quayside.

Converting the 'dirty old silo'

The book is the culmination of a love affair with the building that's lasted over a decade and taken up numerous rolls of 35mm film.

'Dirty old silo'

Elaina, from Sunderland, first photographed the silo in around 1993, during a visit with a photography group she was part of.

She'd never seen it before and was sceptical that something that looked so derelict could ever become a centre for contemporary art.

"I'd lived in Newcastle a couple of years before then and never even been that side of Gateshead," she remembers.

Elaina might have been disbelieving but that first visit still made a big impression. When the news came through that conversion was going ahead she returned with her camera again. And again, and again, and again.

"I started taking photographs about every three weeks, from as it was, a dirty old brick box. [I stood] about two lampposts in front there, every three weeks, very anal about it.

"I just basically fell in love with the building. It's hard to imagine a dirty old brick box had such an impact on me but it did!"

Inside view

Elaina took shots from the same angle each time to show the progress of the building work - and the changing seasons.

Elaina was allowed on the roof

She was also lucky enough to be allowed to photograph the inside of the silo, climbing to the top via the narrow walkways the old mill workers would have used. She also went out onto the roof.

"It was quite strange. It was very quiet and subdued. I felt a pang of like 'Oh it’s so sad this has all gone' but a bit of excitement at the same time like what a potential this has got here, the space it's got.

"[At the top] there was dirty windows at either side. We were walking over wooden chairs, bits of mechanical wiring.

"But you could see where people would be working. You could see the bottoms of the old silo bins, so you could see where the grain would come through, where they'd be bagging it to go next door."

From Granary to Gallery

The completion of the building worked marked the end of Elaina's regular photography trips to the Quayside - but not the end of her interest in Baltic.

"Oh no, I was wanting to get a job in there - I even said that's my office up there," she jokes. "I said I'll be a cleaner I don't care I'll do anything just to get in there!

"As soon as the jobs went up I was there, filling in the application."

Baltic in 2008 with the bridge in mid tilt

And her wish came true. She got a job as a member of the crew when it opened and still works there part-time. She loves seeing new visitors come through the doors in awe of the building.

"They're in awe of it, just like I was, and I feel that when I see them. It just all comes out again. I get that invigoration again."

Now she's putting her passion into compiling a book of her photographs. Alongside the pictures will be memories she's collected from ex-mill workers and people involved in the creation of Baltic, from council workers to architects.

"It's the scary bit now, putting it together," she says.

Scary, but nevertheless a labour of love.

"Oh yeah, I still love the building. It will be a wrench to actually leave it at some point in the future.

"It's an icon now. It's almost like the Angel of the North. Praise be Gateshead Council I say!"