In the A-Z of photography techniques S is for silhouettes. In this case a silhouette of Penshaw Monument, built in the style of an Athenian temple in 1844, in memory of the first Earl of Durham and Governor of Canada, John George Lambton. It's on top of Penshaw Hill, just outside Sunderland and can be seen for literally miles and miles. As iconic landmarks go this was on the scene well before that Angel of the North thing further up the A1.

The trick with silhouettes is simply to use a fast enough shutter speed to include the background sky while leaving out the detail of the subject. The fact that this shot was taken at 20:17 helped, as the sun was slowly setting behind me.

1/250s f/3.5 at ISO100