Victory!!

HMS Victory c 1759 – Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

You have to watch this  www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CCf7gvmDEU to get the full flavour! 

Official website www.historicdockyard.co.uk/site-attractions/attractions/hms-victory?gclid=CJ6DuqnRqsUCFYgfwwodQI4ALQ

Cashed in my Tesco Clubcard voucher for entire Historic Dockyard attraction list and for a whole year too. The face value is about £33, not bad for ‘free’, though I DID have to buy 1 billion tins of baked beans from Tesco to accrue enough points..... 

Concentrated on Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, where I went as a boy on a historical trip and once with Des, at least 12 years ago and from which no photographs survive. 

Photos are allowed inside, but without flash. Useful to have fast modern lenses and fast sensor these days for the interior and such; it would have been impossible in the days of film (generally max iso used to be a measly 400!) 

Despite my height, and squeezing under the tiny entrance door, I was pleasantly surprised at how much headroom there actually was. Of course, some parts are tricky, such as the often very steep steps between decks and all in all, it took a surprisingly long time to go around it all and of course, trying to dodge all the French school groups, for the photos. For once, Victory was not in battle with the French, but the Spanish. No Spaniards seen or heard this morning.....! 

Unfortunately, the elaborate rigging has been taken down, for maintenance and repair and as I particularly wanted to use my circular fisheye, which is only for full-frame, and of which of course, I had to lug the big heavy and falling-to-bits D700 round with me. So, shots on top deck looking up didn’t quite hit the mark. 

So, for my Blip, I’ve gone for a display that shows a sailor’s bowls and pail, with GR (George Rex, as in King George) with a horn to blow, just inches from my face (bottom left). The decks were lit by these orange lamps and of course, since the Victory is permanently in dry dock, it’s possible to have all the portholes open for the cannon to pop through, (a Perspex 'window' around the cannon, to keep out the weather) and allow light in. In normal sea-going conditions, these would be closed and it would be VERY dark inside.

My fisheye also gives a hint of how the cannon were arranged. It’s not a perfect capture of everything, there were also tourists just out of frame on the left and I cloned out someone on the right. But, I like to do different and in a way, it’s perfect fodder for the circular fisheye, its curves accentuating the cramped conditions . 

I did pop in quickly afterwards to the Mary Rose ‘experience’. Like many, saw its raising from the seabed on TV all those years ago and it’s still in restorative state. More on that when I return with my annual pass. I'm trying to get Des to come down and join me to see this new addition to Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard experience sometime soon.

Lens is Sigma EX 8mm circular fisheye