Tall Ships In The Mist

Over 50 nations will be sending a warship and/or tall ship to participate in an International Fleet Review to be held in Sydney from 3 - 11 October,  held to commemorate the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet into Sydney. It is planned for the Review to begin with the entry of the tall ships into Sydney Harbour and conclude with a laser light show on the Saturday evening.

I went with some members from our Photography Society to position ourselves at Bradley's Head in order to grab some shots of the tall ships as they sailed towards their berth at Darling Harbour. I'm always most uncomfortable in crowds, and not keen on attending when the crowds would be in force so this was to be my one opportunity to witness this spectacle.  Alas ............ after a great start to the morning, with sun shining and fluffy white clouds, weatherwise it was all downhill from there.

 After a long walk from the ferry to the Head, almost as soon as we'd positioned ourselves down on the shoreline with a pretty good view and great lead in lines of golden sand and moss covered rocks, the winds picked up, the sun disappeared and mist caused by falling rain rolled in. The fisheye lens has made our rocky retreat look a lot sheltered than it actually was.

The reality was a long way from the anticipated experience as there were few billowing sails due to the weather and a mishmash of spectator boats littered the scene and interfered with what should have been some good compositions.

  Although I ended up cold and wet, as always, we had some great laughs and shared some photographic tips and strategies.

My first sighting of a tall ship was certainly not what I'd looked forward to, as it was barely visible.

We were lucky that there was some protection from the overhanging cliff face so it was with garbage bag over the torso I was only able to intermittently snap the occasional shot of a tall ship barely visible for rain.

I didn't come away with many stellar images I must say, so amused myself by playing around with the one passable image I captured. I used an online gif maker and some multiple processed copies of the image to create an efficient method of viewing them. Unfortunately there is a white band on the side but I cant be bothered to go back and edit it out :-(

Fine weather is forecast for tomorrow  but I doubt I have the energy or desire to battle the travel and crowds in order to participate in another train and ferry trip. This little black duck will watch it from the comfort of her lounge room, tissues in hand, as my legacy from today is sneezes and sniffs.