Panning practice

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

OK - so what actually happened was: I got up this morning to discover that the Monstrous Crow was hovering over us. Again. So I checked hobbs' Wide Angle Wednesday challenge for inspiration, and found that it was curved leading lines. Can do, I thought - because luckily our Georgian staircase has some luscious lines - but having done it before it seemed a bit of a cop-out, and as it happened I had a meeting in Stratford at 11am, so I took the camera, determined that I would find something different.

Had my meeting. Got a bit stressed, drank several pints of coffee, and left with a vile headache (which I still have: poor me). Moved the car into Old Town, and briskly walked the circuit over Lucy's Mill Bridge, through the Recreation Ground, over the Old Tramway Bridge, and back along the north side of the river - finding and photographing various curved leading lines as I went. Then, just as I passed the Chain Ferry landing stage and turned up into the RSC gardens a noise caught my attention, and suddenly recognising it as swans flying along the river I shot back down onto the landing stage. I knew that I was on Monstrous Crow settings, which were Not Suitable for moving bird life, but realising as I turned and saw the swans that they were only a few yards away by now and I didn't have time to change them, I pointed, clicked and panned - wouldn't you have?

I'm not a fan of auto-anything, but if I'd had the least idea that this might happen, I'd have been on auto-ISO so that I only had to turn the shutter speed wheel. C'est la vie - and as it happens, I do actually quite like this. It has, one might say, a sense of movement. And the leading lines will all still be there another day.

The full sequence is here.