Photos

Not far from Lanester and Lorient is the Boat Cemetery of the Blavet river. I first came across a reference to it in a book of photography by the French naval photographer, Philippe Plisson, and wished to go there almost immediately.

Boats which have come to the end of their working life are taken to one of the boat cemeteries - I think there are several, and I certainly know of another one near Le Bono that I haven't yet had an opportunity to visit - and they are scuttled. There are several fishing trawlers there, and at least one pleasure tour boat. Most of the pictures of it that I have seen are aerial shots.

I took about 80 pictures there, of which this is one that I like because it is almost like a party of dying boats - there are several in the picture. Photographing the scene from ground level is not especially easy - it's a large site, and some of the wrecks which I would like to have photographed were far enough away to render it very difficult. I will be working with zooming and cropping for a while.

This picture was taken at around 7.30pm - I would like to go back there another time, this time at dawn to see what it might be like to photograph some of the wrecks with the sun rising over them. Access to the site is on the western side.

It's a very peaceful area, which also has an open air theatre, not unlike some of the old Roman theatres. Until I went to take the photographs, I never knew about the theatre, and I have to say I thought it was a fantastic idea - the river Blavet and the wrecks are a wonderful backdrop. I would love to go to a performance there.