Sunday, 15 July 2012

Hey, That's My Home Town...

Liverpool from the Mersey, May 2011

I may have mentioned that I come from Liverpool.

I made the images that became this panorama during a visit to see my father at the end of May 2011. We took a trip on the Mersey ferry (and yes, they do play that song - constantly), had a ride on the Liverpool 360 and did all the touristy things, ostensibly for the benefit of our son.

I like the fact that the Three Graces aren't front and centre as in every other photo of the waterfront. The newer build has more prominence and you can just about make out the Albert Dock on the far right.

I know that panorama creation is getting to be a standard feature of many digital cameras. However, like many technologists, I'm a Luddite at heart (and a bit of a freetard) so I used Hugin to create this. It's based on the Panotools library, which was originated by a bunch of heavyweight German mathematicians, so it must be good.

I have very early memories of traveling on the ferry with my maternal grandfather, who would take me out and about during the summer holidays. I can remember the old wooden landing stage, with the massive tires lashed to the side. This was replaced some years later with a concrete platform, which had an alarming propensity to sink in rough weather.

The concrete stage is still there, but the whole of the Pier Head has been redeveloped and you'd have to be blind to say that its not an improvement. I haven't made it to the new museum or the Open Eye Gallery yet, but I guess I will one day.

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