View From The Roadside

Portsmouth Harbour, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

I’ve tried doing panoramas a few times but have never been quite able to make them work. It’s not just the technical bits, getting the joins to look smooth and have one clean image, not the same bits showing up in more than one place, but also getting a final image that is actually worth looking at. All too often the result loses a lot of whatever it was made me want to make the panorama in the first place. Never the less, I would still try form time to time. This was one such time.
I’d been to Portchester Castle earlier and went up to Portsdown Hill afterwards. As you can see, the view from up there is pretty cool, especially on a sunny day. I took other more typical shots, but I just had to try another panorama. After taking the pictures I downloaded them to the computer and then left them. Making the panorama would take time, and based on previous experience, it seemed like time wasted. I finally got around to looking at it again this week. Incidentally, thats why I never delete a picture if I can help it. What doesn’t work for you today could well be a great picture tomorrow.
I first used a stitching program that came with the camera. It wasn’t perfect, the joins were obvious and suffered from ghosting, especially the castle, but it did show that unlike my other attempts, this panorama had a lot going for it. After that I found autostitch which did a much better job. A quick crop and resize later and you have this panorama of Portsmouth Harbour.
I was lucky in a way, I had no plans for timing any of what you see. The tide being out, showing the meandering path of the channels adds some interest to the harbour itself that I don’t think would be there if the tide were in. The ferry, the Mont St Michel arriving is a lovely touch, as is the cruise ship passing along the Solent, but I had no idea either would be there until I saw them. I also have no idea why there are flowers in the grass on the far right of the picture.

I have recently started reading Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books which are all about a Captain in the Royal Navy fighting the Napoleonic wars. The books themselves are excellent, but don’t spare anything when it comes to maritime detail and jargon. Initially it’s easy to get bogged down in it all, but between the characters explaining things to the non-sailor Dr. Maturin, and a lot of googling, you quickly become immersed in it all. Before the books, a visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard would have been wasted on me, having no knowledge of ships at all. Now, after a few voyages with Captain Aubrey, the significance of the little details and feature of HMS Victory make far more sense to me.

HMS Victory’s Anchors
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

The first time I went, the pictures were more snapshots than anything else. I tend to do that, the first time I go I take boring “I was here” type shots that do a great job of showing something, but with no real artistic element to them. It’s only after that that I seem able to ’see’ more. These picture are perhaps still more ‘documentary’ than ‘art’, but they are a step in the right direction.

This picture is very much a documentary shot. It shows the starboard anchors as they would be stowed when the ship was at sea. The second anchor here is carried as a spare in case the main anchor is lost. You can also see some of the 104 guns run out through their gun ports and the “Nelson Chequer” paint scheme.

Cathead, HMS Victory
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

This is a less documentary-style shot than the others. It’s a detail shot of the starboard cathead (the protrusion the anchor is connected to) and the head of the ship. You can see it again on the right hand side of the picture of the anchors above, which puts it in better context on the ship. I like the flowing curves that run from one corner of the picture to the other, and the splash of the three colours. With so much else to look at it’s perhaps a hidden detail on the ship.

Rigging, HMS Victory
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

The most obvious thing about any Age of Sail ship when you first see it is the mass of rigging running all over the masts. It’s hard to imagine it’s anything other than a random, haphazard set of ropes thrown wherever they can be run. One of the first things a new sailor is taught by the experienced hands are the purposes and use of those ropes, literally showing them the ropes. There are two sets of rigging. The more visible set are called the Standing Rigging. Their job is to add support to the masts, hold the yards (the poles the sails hang off that run across the mast), and give the crew access to the masts. Less obviously, due to using smaller ropes, is the Running Rigging, used to position the yards for the wind and to control the sails. In normal operation, it’s the running rigging that the crew use. This shows the Main mast and the Mizzen (rear) mast. You can see the Maintop and Mizzentop, platforms which amongst other things, would be where the Marine sharpshooters would go in a battle. Indeed, the shot that killed Nelson was fired from the same platforms on the Redoutable. Further up the masts, underneath the topgallant yards, are the crosstrees where the lookouts would sit.