Photos

As I grew up in and around Portsmouth the Gun Wharf was off limits to the public and was part of the naval installations which made and still makes the city an important Royal Navy base. My early teens were caught up with so many nautical influences and knowing navy personnel my dad engineered visits to serving submarines, frigates, aircraft carriers and to many land based events. We lived right next to the Fleet Air Arm station HMS Daedalus and so aircraft and hovercraft were also very much a part of the picture. To round it off with the grunts on the ground my compulsory 2 years of school military training was undertaken courtesy of the Royal Marines.

Now the Gun Wharfs are a place for leisure, to live and to shop - how much it has all changed - when I first came back to the city I thought I was in a different country - a very European feel to everything.

This shot follows the compositional geometry I enjoy most - the 's' or reversed 's' shape - I love it when i see one - even if it does mean leaning out over a drop to get the essential elements in - a gentle decisive moment because of that figure in the bottom right.