Refinery...

Derelict Thursday Challenge

Huge thanks to ALL who entered this yesterday – we had 37 in total. I was knocked sideways and into next week by the response, not least to my own entry. Thanks again.

I judged this as being my Favourite.

And just had to offer this as a very worthy runner-up. Both excellent images, taking dereliction and making works of art out of it.

I will remind next Wednesday for next week’s. Same subject, same everything.

Fawley Refinery

After staying up all night, along with many of my fellow Brits, as the votes in the referendum slowly came in and with rain most of Friday, I took my tripod on a train to Southampton this evening.

And what a strange couple we made!

Always wanted to get a decent time exposure of these chimney stacks at Fawley Refinery. Their height makes them visible from far away but getting a good, close shot, was extremely difficult.

Worth it in LARGE

As I walked over the immense and tall Itchen Bridge, the views towards Fawley were there – but were the shots? Well, no. Despite being a big span of concrete, you can physically feel the bridge vibrate very slightly every time a bus or lorry passes by. Not enough to worry as a pedestrian but certainly enough to induce shake into a 30 sec time exposure.

So, it was a long walk down into Woolston, the area on the far side of the Itchen Estuary. The dampness in the air generated the purpley tones and colours. Unfortunately, there seemed to be little activity as far as chimney smoke (great for the environment, less so for photos!) and I had to really zoom right out to the Tamron SP 70-300mm VC maximum zoom, to anywhere near fill the frame. I took a few, hoping that the stacks would become clearer as it got darker.

It didn’t and this was an early effort. I rather liked the inclusion of some vessel sailing in front, adding interest to the foreground. I had to up the contrast, add some sharpness, both due to the poor visibility and upped the colours a bit too, to give a bit more pizazz.