Thames Barrier Visit.....

[WereBo]

'twas a bright and sunny, though bitterly cold day yesterday so I grabbed the chance to get some daylight shots with this new camera <Note to self: Do NOT buy new camera gear in Winter, when it's cold, wet and short, lousy daylight>

A short drive took me to here in Woolwich.

I've been promising myself a trip here since it was built but, like most local areas, I never got around to it.....

 

Looking up-river, with the O2 'Dome' and the 'Emirates AirLine' cable cars in the distance.....

 

Zoomed in on the lights on #9 pier....

 

One of the rotating gate sides, Wikipedia has a good diagram of just how simple it all works....

 

One of the 'Emirates Airline' pylons against 'The Docklands' , with the O2 Dome pylons behind.....

 

 

[johntwo]

Nice series.  Love to visit the Thames Barrier myself.  Is it part of a tour?

[WereBo]

Thank you johntwo

It's not part of a tour or anything, though there is a 'Visitor Centre' and a cafe, both of which seem to have mixed online reviews.  I highly recommend a warm~hot day to see though, there's a 'stiff breeze' comes up the Thames at time, which on a hot day is very welcome

The far side of the Thames.....

 

If you look in the centre area of the above pic, you can just make out a church steeple, it looks like this.....

 

The 'Tate & Lyle' sugar refinery, to the left of the steeple -  Catch the wind in the wrong direction on a hot day and it really does small bad, I do like the final product in my tea though....

 

The working Thames.....

 

A couple o' cormorants, 1 looking rather smug, just landed and sitting on the jetty in piccie #2 above......

 

 

[Ryewolf]

A nice series of images, I must admit it's been quite some time since I last visited London, I guess it would have been in the very early 90's

[Denis]

Good set of pics showing the barrier and surrounding east London landmarks werebo There used to be a soviet era submarine parked near the barrier once, not seen or heard of it for a long time now.

a little point about the barrier is that it would probably never cope if the SS Robert Montgomery ever went up ! (for those not in the know, google it )

[WereBo]

@ Dennis - If it's the same sub, there's a Russian sub moored on the River Medway at Rochester, the U475 'Black Widow'.

My now late closest friend used to live in Sheerness, approx 100 yards from the sea-front and 2 miles from the SS Robert Montgomery, I used to kid his socks off about the ship going BANG. 

According to a BBC news report in 1970,^[12] it was determined that if the wreck of Richard Montgomery exploded, it would throw a 1,000-foot-wide (300 m) column of water and debris nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) into the air and generate a wave 16 feet (5 m) high. Almost every window in Sheerness would be broken and buildings would be damaged by the blast.

 

Meanwhile, back at the Thames Barrier, as I'm also into photographing birds, I found a load of seagulls flying around, perfect for getting used to the 70-300mm zoom lens, practice is still needed though......

 

The barrier's control-room - It looks like it should be on an airfield somewhere

 

From the back......

 

One of the 'sculptures' outside the area shows how the gates work......

[vanguard]

nice set, not something ive seen alot of.  And now i know how the barrier works.

[David995031]

Great set, particularly number one. Fascinating shapes, well captured

[WereBo]

Thank you guys

[Korky]

An excellent set - I particularly like shot 5.

Korky

[Kobione]

Great set of something I cant get to see WereBo, so thanks for sharing.

[FUJI]

This is a set, that seemed to have escaped my notice until now.....so sorry.....it happens sometimes.

A fantastic record of Thames-side Architecture and structures.....that barrier  may be called upon to prove its worth one day.....I wouldn’t want to live in Thames-side accomodation then though.

A number of your studies here would convert well into mono, because they offer opportunities to take advantage of all the shapes, textures and tonal contrasts.

FUJI

[WereBo]

Thank you Kobione  and Fuji

@ Fuji - It's been used countless times so far to stop London getting too waterlogged.  The big worry now is with sea-levels rising globally, it might well breach the river-banks or barrier gates if floods too much.  Thankfully I live on the 1st floor, so although I might lose gas and/or electricicles for a while, everything will hopefully stay dry.

Although I can sometimes appreciate B&W, I very rarely take or convert photos to it, I far prefer colour to see subtle details.