Stratford

After my old camera gear had been collected this morning, R and I went off to Stratford. It was cold and blustery, but bright, and after the previous forty eight hours of rainy gloom there were many other people who were equally keen to be out and about, so the town was busy. Nevertheless, BTP was able to give us a table, and we enjoyed a reviving post-Christmas lunch of scrambled egg, smoked salmon and avocado on sourdough toast.

Sadly, as I predicted last week, the last of the most recent influx of tufted ducks have moved on, so my choice of photographic subjects came down to the usual suspects. When I shoot black-headed gulls, I always look for interesting patterns and reflections in the water to frame them, and today I was offered a couple of quite contrasting settings.

The main image was shot on the Bancroft Basin, where it was fairly calm, so the water interest here comes from some ripples, breaking up the reflection of the painted side of a moored ice cream barge. I couldn't actually see these through the viewfinder, so when I looked at the file I was surprised to discover the way the long lens had rendered the water, and the interest it had added to the scene.

The bird in the extra was on the River Avon, which was fast-flowing after the recent rain, and choppy because of the wind. Walking along the south bank I could see the red brick of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the grey of its terrace railings reflected in the river, and I took this shot hoping to picture the gull enclosed in colour and texture. It's not subtle, and I do prefer the quieter image I've featured, but I still find it interesting because it looks more like a painted stage backdrop than water.