A day out by the river with lots to see and do - what’s not to like? That’s what you get at The Thames Traditional Boat Festival which is a fantastic event held on the River Thames in Henley every year (global pandemics allowing), and it is a great occasion for a photographer to experience and capture.
There are boats, lots of boats; wooden ones mostly, but also aluminium, steam powered boats, electric boats, hovercraft and even pedal powered boats! There were amphibious vehicles that were driven on land and sailed on the river during the show, and if you were really lucky you got a ride in one too! On land there were bicycles, tricycles and even a penny farthing being ridden around the site. Photo opportunities abound so I armed myself with my Canon 5D mark IV and headed down to Fawley Meadows to see what inspired me to photograph. There were plenty of candid opportunities and I also managed to grab some environmental portraits whilst I was there.
You can see the results in this gallery of photographs from The 42nd Thames Traditional Boat Festival, the first to be held after the Coronavirus pandemic had stopped all events.
The photos are all shot in a way that represents how I see things, which is often with a light bit of humour. There were lots of great characters, vintage good stalls, food halls and a pub!
Many of the boats were Dunkirk Little Ships which were boats that were used during the war in Operation Dynamo the codename for the evacuation of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in France. The boats themselves had been commandeered to help with the war effort and they were painted battle ship grey, and many had a gun turret installed on the front of them. Nowadays though many of them have been renovated to an incredible standard, perhaps none more so than Breda which won the Best In Show category, along with other awards.
You can see some of my portraits of the boatbuilders at Michael Dennett’s boatyard in the gallery of portraits.
There are boats, lots of boats; wooden ones mostly, but also aluminium, steam powered boats, electric boats, hovercraft and even pedal powered boats! There were amphibious vehicles that were driven on land and sailed on the river during the show, and if you were really lucky you got a ride in one too! On land there were bicycles, tricycles and even a penny farthing being ridden around the site. Photo opportunities abound so I armed myself with my Canon 5D mark IV and headed down to Fawley Meadows to see what inspired me to photograph. There were plenty of candid opportunities and I also managed to grab some environmental portraits whilst I was there.
You can see the results in this gallery of photographs from The 42nd Thames Traditional Boat Festival, the first to be held after the Coronavirus pandemic had stopped all events.
The photos are all shot in a way that represents how I see things, which is often with a light bit of humour. There were lots of great characters, vintage good stalls, food halls and a pub!
Many of the boats were Dunkirk Little Ships which were boats that were used during the war in Operation Dynamo the codename for the evacuation of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in France. The boats themselves had been commandeered to help with the war effort and they were painted battle ship grey, and many had a gun turret installed on the front of them. Nowadays though many of them have been renovated to an incredible standard, perhaps none more so than Breda which won the Best In Show category, along with other awards.
You can see some of my portraits of the boatbuilders at Michael Dennett’s boatyard in the gallery of portraits.