Maritime atmosphere… - a photo on Flickriver

            Portsmouth (a.k.a. Pompey) is a port city and naval base on England’s south coast, situated on the Portsea Island. It’s known for its maritime heritage and Portsmouth historic dockyards. 

Here you see the Spinnaker Tower, as part of the urban re-development of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilities which were established around Britain and the Empire by the Board of Ordnance, where cannons, ammunition and other armaments were stored, repaired and serviced ready for use on land or at sea. Later known as HMS Vernon, the military site closed in 1995. It opened to the public as Gunwharf Quays after six years of reconstruction; which included the restoration of some of the surviving 18th and 19th-century Gun Wharf buildings. The landmark Spinnaker Tower opened on October 2005 a few years later.

The Spinnaker Tower is a 170 metres (560 ft) landmark observation tower. Being taller than London Eye, Blackpool Tower and Big Ben, the Spinnaker Tower has established itself as one of the national icons of Britain. Its shape was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection of entries. The tower, designed by local architectural firm called “HGP Architects” and engineering consultants Scott Wilson. It was built by Mowlem. Obviously, it reflects Portsmouth's maritime history through its modelled sail; a spinnaker.

Not close up!
Gunwharf Quays is now a waterfront outlet shopping center. Although, there are no gates, notices/signs or a visible entrance, it is not a public space. Private company rules apply. And one of them is that is not allowed to take pictures with the help of a three legged thing. Security is pretty strict about this. The many CCTV cams smell you from miles away.  Although I was approached by a nice and very understanding security guard (who let me finish 1 or 2 photos during his lecture on the rules), I finally opted for an angle a bit further away; from The Point.

Wada – somewhat – inverted
As I’m a fan of the black-and-white fine art photos Yoshihiko Wada produces, I thought of doing it different this time. By not focussing the motion blur effect on the clouds, but on the local ferry that passed by. To my opinion and idea is underlines the dynamic maritime atmosphere of Pompey. Because, next to a number of local ferries to Fishbourne, Gosport and Ryde, also a big number international ferries are in service here. To the Channel Islands, Caen, St Malo, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Bilbao and Santander.

Technical stuff
This is a short long exposure single shot: 50 ISO, f22, 13 seconds, at 16mils and using a 4ND filter. That I only used 13 seconds was motivated by the fact that the ferry at a longer exposure would no longer be recognisable as a ship 😉. 
Post-production was done in Adobe Lightroom CC. It included a black-and-white conversion, balancing the lighting, giving the image a bit more umph by using the curve tool and highlighting the dynamic nature of the ferry. Finally I added some small copyright signs. The latter is, alas, there to stay due to the frequent copying of my photos. So, don't bother commenting on that.

Taken in: UK / England / Southsea / Old Portsmouth (show map)

Taken on: December 20, 2020

Tags:

Maritime atmosphere

Portsmouth

port city

naval base

England’s

south coast

United Kingdom

Verenigd Koninkrijk

Britain

English

Portsea Island

South East England

Hampshire

maritime heritage

historic dockyards

Spinnaker Tower

urban

re-development

HM Gunwharf

Empire

Board of Ordnance

HMS Vernon

military

site

Gunwharf Quays

reconstruction

Gun Wharf

buildings

landmark

national icons

architectural

HGP Architects

architecture

architect

Scott Wilson

Mowlem

spinnaker

waterfront

outlet

shopping

center

black-and-white

B&W

zwartwit

Z/W

fine art photo

motion blur

effect

local

ferry

Fishbourne

long exposure

tripod

three legged thing

Lightroom

Canon

5DmrkIII

16-35mm

Bram du Saar « less

Sets appears in: • Cities • Ships, ports, harbours, rivers and sea

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