Tall Ships Festival

[Mike Farley]

I am not sure how many photographic opportunities this event will offer, but it will be fun finding out.

The festival runs from 5 - 9 September.

http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/tallsh ... /index.php

[davidc]

Imagine the rigging shots you can get!

[Mike Farley]

Imagine the rigging shots you can get!

This one's for davidc.

[Mike Farley]

I went along to the festival this afternoon to see what was happening and opted for the Woolwich location. It was bright and sunny when I arrived, but that did not last long, quickly turning overcast and murky which did not do much for photography. It was not very crowded, although I imagine that will change during the weekend. There were three ships parked* at the pier and after queuing for around half an hour, I was able to get on board one, a replica of a Russian frigate dating from the days of Tsar Peter the Great. The other two vessels were not open to the public, but of the three the frigate was the most interesting.

While on board the frigate, another tall ship came down the river and I was able to get this shot.

Tall Ships.jpg (122.92 KiB) Viewed 1443 times

After getting back ashore, I hung around and a number of vessels arrived at the pier. It is possible to take cruises on them and passengers were disembarking and others going aboard. For a short period there were a lot of ships all manoeuvring on the Thames, which struck me as being reminiscent of former days.

Ships on the Thames

Tall Ships-3.jpg (140.31 KiB) Viewed 1443 times

* That's the correct nautical term so far as I am concerned.

[Rose]

Interesting, thanks for sharing Mike

We're planning to go tomorrow and will aim for Greenwich where we can also get the cable car across the river for some aerial shots. I've been waiting to go on that for a while and now seems the perfect opportunity ! Weather forecast seems good, so fingers crossed...

[Mike Farley]

Glad you found this useful, Rose.

If possible, you might want to time the cable car trip for a time when there is some activity on the river. I arrived at Woolwich at around 2:30 and there was so little happening that I nearly came straight back home. There was supposed to be a "Thames Barges Parade" and around 4:00 a couple came from upstream and went past the pier, before turning around and heading back. That appeared to be it, "parade" wise. From around 3:30 the ships which were taking people on river cruises turned up and that is when I got the majority of shots, including all those I have published on the forum. I would imagine that you will see them in the Greenwich area at around lunchtime, but it would be worthwhile checking departure times on the website to get a better idea.

I hope that you have better luck with the light than I did and you are able to get some decent shots.