Wisbech port colours

click photo to enlarge
There has been a port at Wisbech since the medieval period. Of course, inland ports (Wisbech is over 10 miles from the sea) made a lot of sense when land transport was so limited by the size of carts and the speed at which they could travel. The town originally stood on the River Ouse but when the mouth of this river silted up and it was diverted to King's Lynn, the River Nene was made to serve the town.

The port became prosperous in the 19th century following the drainage of the Fens.  The area was noted for the  largest grain market outside London. Ships from Wisbech sailed down the Nene to The Wash, and from there took agricultural produce up and down the eastern coast of Britain and across the North Sea. Returning ships imported a variety of goods but notably coal and timber, the latter from the Baltic region. Trade with the Baltic continues today as does the import of timber, some of which can be seen in the photograph. A fortnightly service runs from Wisbech to Riga in Latvia.

As we walked past the docks the other day the bright blue of the sky was set against the red of a crane and the yellow warning triangles on the flood defence gates. This conjunction of primary colours seemed a good subject for a photograph.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Primary Colours, Port of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Two old buoys

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I've always been amazed by the fact that we continue to have traffic lights that use green to signify "Go" and red to indicate "Stop". Given that up to 8% of males and 2% of females experience red/green colour blindness you'd think that we'd have taken this into account in their design, or have long ago changed the colours to ones that aren't mis-read so frequently. Colour blind drivers are known to use the position of the lights to determine what to do, and I don't often read about accidents caused by this reason, so perhaps its not the problem I imagine it to be.

I was thinking about this as I photographed two buoys on the docks at King's Lynn, Norfolk. They were very faded, but were clearly red and green. Pairs of newer and better painted buoys nearby were also red or green, but much brighter. Their juxtaposition made me wonder if sailors experienced the same potential for confusion when steering by these buoys that mark channels. However, in preparing this piece I read that in most of the world (except the Americas, the Philippines and Japan) green buoys are conical and indicate starboard, and red buoys are cylindrical and show port. So, the designers of this navigation aid contrived a system that was legible in high contrast light (silhouette) and by colour blind people. But why did they use potentially confusing red and green? Was it simply to mimic the lights that ships carry? It seems that many of our designs, like the QWERTY keyboard on which I am writing this blog entry, have a life that extends much longer than good sense would dictate, and inertia is as strong a force in our "ever changing" world as it ever was!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 20mm (40mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

A Boston view

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In the Middle Ages the medieval coastline made the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, much closer to the sea. It thrived as a trans-shipment point for goods going up the River Witham to the city of Lincoln. In 1205 the port was second only to London in the levy that it paid, and by 1300 it was paying a third more than the capital. The Hanseatic League had a base there in the fourteenth century, as did the Greyfriars, Blackfriars, Austin Friars and Carmelites. Decline in the sixteenth century was followed by expansion in the 1700s, and steady growth in the 1800s.

Much of Boston's past can be seen in the town today. The medieval street pattern remains, as do timber-framed and stone medieval buildings. A fine collection of eighteenth century houses, an Assembly Rooms, and warehouses can also be seen. By the River Witham are interesting nineteenth century buildings, including the old Public Warehouse (now flats) - the tall white building in this photograph. And, towering over it all, is the the magnificent, mainly fourteenth century, church of St Botolph. The tower, at 272 feet, is the tallest in England (though there are taller spires), and the building, almost of cathedral proportions, is one of the biggest parish churches in the country.

Boston's past, together with its present status as a busy market town and a regional centre of south Lincolnshire, means that the photographer has no difficulty in finding subjects to frame with the camera. This view of the River Witham, taken from the bridge on John Adams Way, shows the back of the High Street to the left, a section of river frontage, and St Botolph's tower in the background. I have photographed it before, but the overcast sky with a little sun breaking through gave a nice contrast to the scene, and this is my best image of this view to date.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 42mm (84mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off