A morning photographing boats - and I hear 21 explosions

I have a new lens for my camera, at least it’s a new second hand one.  Amongst other things it gets a pretty wide angle.  Will it make me a better photographer?  Naah.  I read somewhere that most lenses are better than most photographers, i.e. a good lens won’t necessarily give you good pictures if you don’t do your bit well.

As Kath was going down to Pompey today, I hitched a ride and spend the morning wandering round Old Portsmouth, the bit down by the harbour entrance.  So much goes on there, you can always guarantee something worth a snap. 

What a beautiful day.  Deep blue sky and low autumn light.  Lovely.

I’m trying to think out of the box a bit photographically.  What do you think of this?  Do me a favour and click it up big.

 

What is it? You may ask.  Well it’s this

a scene in Camber Dock turned upside down and chopped.  I liked the reflections, but the scene behind the boats was so tangled that it was a bit of a mess, so i experimented.

A couple of hundred yards away, once again taking advantage of the wider angle of view, I took this

Two pubs and a boat.  What’s not to like?!  Pity about the car roof though.  As you can see, the IoW ferries get pretty close to the bank hereabouts.

As I was walking back.  BANG!. . .   BANG!! . . . BANG!!! . . .  BANG!!!!.  Explosions out at sea, it sounded like.  I ran up to the old sea wall at Sallyport and through the door onto the little beach.  BANG!!!!! . . .BANG!!!!!!.  Looking over to HMS Dolphin (that’s a shore establishment, not a ship) at Gosport I soon spotted where the bangs were coming from.

They stopped after 21 bangs.  Aaaah, a salute.  Later on the radio they said it was the Prince of Wales’s birthday.