August 2020 - A Field and a Tanker
Two years ago, I went to Pembrokeshire with a friend – our annual 3 day break together. John and I stayed in a terrific B & B near Haverfordwest, and spent the time travelling around to places like St. David’s Cathedral (and were able to attend a church service there on the Sunday – in both Welsh and English. Gorgeous!). On one day we went walking in the countryside near Dale – on the opposite side of the Milford Haven Waterway from the actual town and port of Milford Haven. A beautiful day, and lovely countryside to look at and to photograph. We went up to the end of the small peninsula (up to St. Ann’s Head Lighthouse at the end there), walking though the countryside and enjoying the sights.
I have always wanted to photograph a field full of these large wheat cylinders – but usually they turn out to be rather uninspiring: composition is all, and you have to be both lucky and hard working to get a good shot of them. Well, the wheat cylinders lived down to that history, but the sight of the huge oil tankers coming in and out of the harbour across the estuary was pretty impressive.
I waited until this tanker was behind the cylinders and made sure that I caught the whole ship in the picture – cutting off the bow or the stern would have been a really bad mistake! What I like about this image – and it is certainly not going to win any prizes for technical excellence – is that it captures both the destroyer of our environment as well as a peaceful rural scene that is the opposite of any CO2 creator. It tells a story that rings bells with me.