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Liner QE2 #1

Photo of liner QE2 sailing in a force 9 gale in the Bay of Biscay

The story behind this image

Sailing back home from our holiday cruise around the Mediterranean on the P&O liner Arcadia we were passing through the Bay of Biscay in a force 9 gale when all of sudden the captain comes on the tannoy to tell us that we were passing the venerable ocean liner QE2, heading in the opposite direction.

A mad rush to the portside promenade deck, along with 2,000 other passengers, gave this impressive view of the QE2 ploughing through the rough Atlantic waters.

I thought about fitting a longer lens onto my camera, and zooming in really close, but then I thought again that my photo would be more meaningful if I showed a relatively small ship in a relatively large ocean.

After, all, that's how the QE2 looked to us from a distance of a couple of miles. Rather fragile in the face of so much angry water.

Image data

Filename - ship qe2 01.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 105mm

Exposure - 1/125sec @ f8, ISO100

Location - Somewhere in the Bay of Biscay

This image - 800x450px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Hand held exposure with lens stabilisation.