I’ve been using the ‘crop’ tool, trying to give the impression of a large fleet moving slowly across a frame where the only fixed point is a snatch of land in the bottom left hand corner of some of the images. Obviously a video clip would do it, but I like the black and white, the reflection of sunlight on the water, the contrast in the sails.
This is the tall ships fleet off Falmouth in August 2014.
(Images by Bill Whateley)
I am an eldest child. The problem with being an eldest child is that they like to stay first . . . meaning they like to get-things-right! . . . which is a complete pain because they don’t always get things right! I guess it makes them try harder – but then the second and third siblings are already doing that. My tongue trembles in my cheek – I don’t mean to make it sound like a competition. It’s more the way life is.
I find photography like that. I like to get it right and when I don’t I’m pretty fed up . . . but it does make me try harder. The problem is that few of us have instant talent. Most of us spend our lives struggling to reach some level of competence – struggling to be good enough . . . then a bit better.
I thought I’d take three colour images that I wasn’t happy with and see what they look like in black and white. I’m happy with the subjects. The problem is technique.
They are better in black and white.
(Images by Bill Whateley)
There were other boats that made the passage into Cornwall exciting. I don’t know all their names but I enjoyed their presence and the past they represent:
I arrived in Falmouth around the middle of the day. The wind was quite strong and the water taxi not keen to go out, so I spent a very useful hour or two in the library at the Maritime Museum.
Out to the boat about 1600. The wind was easing. Early evening I had a privileged position. I only wish my photography was up to the evening light.
The buoy at Turnaware Point is some three miles from the entrance to Carrick Roads. In the distance is Pendennis Point and ‘a gateway to a boundless ocean’.
The trip down river had a certain sense of urgency. The sky said it – there was wind up there.
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Malpas was the furthest upriver I wanted to take the boat. Any further and we would need a quay to lean against when the tide fell – possible, but not necessary on this trip.
Beyond Steeple Point 