Photos

These are the first B&W tests I make with my newest EOS400D. We are in Lorient, on the BSM area. BSM means "base des sous-marins" (submarines base). I find the B&W fits very well with this kind of very sevre architecture. In june 1940, during the Atlantic Battle, the nazi admiral Dönitz decides to establish its headquarters in Lorient arsenal. In 1941, the Nazis begin a huge site between Keroman point and River Ter estuary : three huge reinforced concret buildings which will host the badly famous U-Boote submarines. The site ends in 1943. It is the biggest military building built outside of Germany by the Nazis ! After big damages by U-Boote submarines, the Allied and Winston Churchill decide to bomb submarines bases in Brest, Saint-Nazaire and of course Lorient. But the bases are indestructible, so the Allied decide to destroy the city of Lorient to destroy any logistics for the submarine base. Civilian people leave the town in january 1943. Bombings last one month, until half of February. 4000 tons of bombs destroy 85% of the city ! The only building not destroyed is ... the submarines base, which is all what remains in Lorient after the bombings ! After Liberation, the submarines base is named after general-engineer Stosskopf : this officer coming from Alsace was a spy for allied during many years and was shot by the Nazis in 1944. After the War, the base was used by French Navy until it closed in 1997. Its conversion to the sailing sector is the most important economic challenge for city of Lorient.
Technical details :
- F5.0 / 1/3200 sec.
- -1/3 underexposure
- 400 ISO
- Red filter applied