Helen Stephenson's Waverley Pictures, 22nd September 2006

For this Waverley visit, I brought along my tripod and set up my camera on it outside the Tower of London, pointing at Tower Bridge, and when Waverley appeared, I took an exposure every second or so, which gave me a nice set of images to run as an animation.

For viewers on dial-up, here's a single image taken from the above sequence of Waverley emerging through Tower Bridge. Note that the tug Revenge has just nipped under the far suspension section of the bridge to beat Waverley into the Upper Pool.

Having obtained the close-up show of Waverley clearing Tower Bridge last year, I didn't try and repeat that this year. (It was interfering with the capture of my animation, anyway!) I did get some pictures of Waverley once she'd berthed at Tower Millennium Pier, though. On this occasion, she was sharing the pier with Dutch Master.

I thought that was going to be the end of my Waverley photography for the evening and turned my attention to Silver Cloud, who was berthed by HMS Belfast. I took some gorgeous pictures of Silver Cloud, which I will be putting up on another page, and then realised that the diminishing light had enhanced the view of Waverley, and that as I had a tripod this time, I could do her better justice than I managed last year.

I also zoomed out and got these three views of Waverley against the backdrop of the City of London. The building with the greenish light in its central core is Tower 42, the one-time Nat West Tower; the unmistakeable space-ship shaped building is the Swiss Re Building, affectionately known as The  Gherkin; the smaller white tower reaching up to the waistline of the Swiss Re building on the right is Trinity House; the completed tall building between Tower 42 and the Swiss Re Building is the Aviva Building; and the tall building with the cranes on it is the new tower being constructed behind the offices in which I work. I'm so glad they're not pile-driving any more!

I was just about to set my tripod up on the south bank of the Thames for some better pictures than I managed last year when I realised that Waverley was on the move. The tug Revenge took her up by London Bridge to swing her around, and while that was happening I was desperately looking for a place to set up my tripod which was compatible with the lens I had mounted. I did a couple of test shots just as the bridge started to open and adjusted my camera angle a couple of times, so I've given you an animation here which starts with the bridge open.

For viewers on dial-up, I've extracted a close-up of Waverley from the frame where she was directly under the bridge.