click photo to enlargeLooking at the anglers' boats on Rutland Water the other day it occurred to me that the only other vessels I recall seeing that have identification numbers on their side are warships and the rowing boats on park lakes. Perhaps there are others that are marked in this way, but if so it hasn't registered with me. As I took my photographs I idly wondered whether the person from whom they are hired consulted his watch and, as with the boats on municipal park ponds, when the rental period was up, bellowed through a megaphone, "Come in number 29, your time is up." Probably not, he'd need to be a champion town cryer given the size of the area of water over which these anglers range.
It was a holiday weekend when I took this shot, and more fishermen than I'd seen on previous visits were chugging about, rods extended, lines in the water, searching for their prey. These two boats caught my eye because they seemed to be circling a spot like a couple of frigates about to depth-charge a submarine. However, when I studied my image I realised they were too far apart for such a co-ordinated approach, and anyway, by the curve on his rod, one angler seemed to have a "bite". To compose this little shot I waited until the bottom boat (which was moving) was positioned to the left of the frame, balancing the stationary boat on the right. I cropped the shot slightly to remove the distraction of the distant shore at the top of the image.
When I look through my collection of blog photographs I realise that I've featured anglers a few times - see here (very distantly), here (rather insanely) and here, also at Rutland Water (quite statuesquely). I've also photographed the boats in today's image (parked very neatly).
photograph & text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 142mm (284mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
