Dawn Shipping Photos

It is that time of year when my commute to work often coincides with sunrise or other early morning lighting, and I managed to make a few nice images as a result in October and November.

ACL's appropriately named Atlantic Sun was departing Halifax one morning while I chased photos of the USS Gerald R. Ford.

Dynamogracht entering the harbour at sunrise.

ONE Hangzhou Bay entering Halifax Harbour at sunrise.

Unfortunately, the morning I was chasing the USS Gerald R. Ford, I didn't manage to get a spectacular sunrise image - this was the angle I received the morning that Atlantic Sun was leaving. 

Atlantic Sun departing off to the right with the USS Gerald R. Ford at left.

I tried to convince my editor at Warships IFR that he should include the following photo inside the magazine, and feature wording to the following effect on the cover: "USS Gerald R. Ford off the rails! Photos inside."

For some reason, he didn't go for it, but I thought it was a great idea. 

USS Gerald R. Ford "off the rails" as it were, pictured from the Dartmouth side. 

That said, a few mornings later, I did manage to get a sunrise shot from the Halifax side that I was happy with.

USS Gerald R. Ford at sunrise from Halifax.

HMCS FREDERICTON operations

 FREDERICTON was working up at sea this week, and I was lucky enough to catch her just as she weighed anchor and headed out of Halifax Harbour on Wednesday last week. When I boarded the ferry, the engines were running as apparent from the funnel emissions. 

The next image shows the decommissioned Deep Panuke platform in the background at the Woodside pier. This platform left Halifax later in the week, destined to be broken up at Sheet Harbour.

Halfway across on the ferry, the anchor appeared above the surface, confirming that the ship was about to get underway. Unlike on Friday, no tugs showed up on Wednesday, suggesting she was headed for sea.

With the anchor hauled up, the ship starts to turn to head out. The NSCC building is in the background.

After leaving the ferry, I rushed out to the end of Cable Wharf to get some more photos, arriving just in time to capture FREDERICTON as she passed Georges Island. I was fortunate that there was still a bit of a light show left over in the sky from sunrise. 

Passing the lighthouse on Georges Island.

FREDERICTON returned to Halifax in July after a 6-month NATO deployment during which her Cyclone helicopter crashed and 6 members of her complement were killed. In recent weeks, she has started operating a Cyclone again.

Sunrise at Lawrencetown Beach

I'm not one for early mornings, but after two months of social distancing and staying within a few blocks of home, I took advantage of the reopening of provincial beaches and headed out to Lawrencetown for sunrise. With sunrise scheduled around 5:30am, I got up before 5 and jumped immediately into the car. Despite the early hour, there were already hikers on the nearby Salt Marsh Trail. When I arrived at Lawrencetown Beach, the horizon was a nice shade of orange, and there was a nice array of clouds in the sky to turn the sky pink. 

In the distance along the beach and out past the headland, there was a nice low-lying fog to give atmosphere to my images. 

I stayed on the beach for at least an hour, and even long after the sun had cleared the horizon, there were still photographic opportunities. 

Getting the camera down low provides an interesting perspective to landscapes, especially when there are shiny beach stones with which to populate the foreground. 

Once I tired of the landscapes, there were plenty of detail images available, and I'm always a sucker for sea foam and long exposures of flowing water.

I would forgive the viewer for thinking I had placed this piece of seaweed in order to create this image, but it was as I found it - and soon after I took this image, a wave ventured higher up the beach than most and rearranged it into something less picturesque.

A retreating wave flows around a rock.

On my way out to the beach, I had passed a number of coves and islands, where the sea was still utterly due to the absence of wind. Hoping that the water's mirror surface remained, I started my return to the city. I was in luck!

With only a group of ducks swimming by to disturb the water, this tree along the Salt Marsh Trail reflects on the water's mirror surface.

In comparison to the following image, this little island allowed me to isolate the trees within the frame of the image.

For some reason, I really like the mixture of dark & light greens and reds with the blue of the sky and the white of the wind-fallen trees. If you look carefully, you can see the heron that I missed until I zoomed in on the image - though it isn't where you might expect to find it.

Even here, I found some detail shots to keep me there a few minutes longer.

Close to shore, the remains of the previous season's reeds lie just under the water's surface as the current crop start to poke up and cast their own reflections.

All in all, this was a much needed photographic therapy session.

Photos this week: September 19-23

I don't have much time to write today, so I'll just share some of the photos I took this week around the harbour.

Norwegian Gem arriving in the fog on Monday morning.

If you look closely, you can see HMCS SUMMERSIDE sneaking in behind Norwegian Gem.

Norwegian Gem turned 180 degrees before coming alongside.

A large crane on a barge has been stored on the Dartmouth shore next to the Macdonald Bridge. It looked particularly interesting in the fog on Monday.

Bluenose v2.5 was in port this week, and the calm harbour on Monday made for nice reflections.

The Navy was also busy this week too, starting on Monday when GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE emerged out of the fog. The Navy's paint scheme blends well into the fog, and I had to resort to manual focus for many of these shots, as there was not enough contract to use the autofocus. 

HMCS GOOSE BAY.

HMCS GOOSE BAY passing the George's Island lighthouse.

The fog thickened up a little bit before SUMMERSIDE could make her way in.

Friday provided two special treats, with GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE anchored in formation at dawn, and HMCS ST. JOHN'S being hoisted on the Syncrolift for maintenance.

GOOSE BAY and SUMMERSIDE at dawn.

The Syncrolift was originally built to handle the OBERON class submarines purchased for the RCN in the 1960s, and there was originally a tent-shaped shed that the subs could be rolled into for long term maintenance and refits. In the mid-1980s, the Syncrolift itself was upgraded to handle up to 6000 tonne "NATO" frigates, and it could then handle the destroyers of the day. With the purchase of the VICTORIA class submarines in the late 1990s, the old shed was no longer big enough, and while the Syncrolift platform could lift the new subs, it could not support them to be rolled inshore as the VICTORIA class have a larger load density (e.g. higher tonnes per length) and the inshore portion of the platform (and associated winches) had to be upgraded once again. Around the same time, the sub shed itself was torn down, and replaced with the new structure shown in the photos below which can handle the VICTORIA class.

Blocked up on the Syncrolift, ST. JOHN'S is hoisted out of the water. 

The blocking under the ship has to be fairly tall in order to accommodate the ship's propellers, which draw considerably more water than the hull. If you look closely, you can see some of the old blue antifouling paint peaking out from underneath the current black colour. Prior to the blue, I believe a grey colour was used. You could probably write a short paper on the procession of different colours of antifouling paint used by the Navy over the years. 

The heaviest part (or greatest load density) of the ships and subs is the middle part of the ship, and the platform and winches under that portion of the ship have to be able to handle the larger load. You can see the smaller winches on the harbour side, with larger winches located under the ship's funnel (and machinery spaces). 

I got a good chuckle when I zoomed in on images of what I presume is one of hte Navy's boarding teams heading out on Friday, with several members holding what appeared to be Tim Horton's cups in their hands.