Margate Harbour and Lighthouse

A bunch of us (pub friends from Pinner) came here once every summer in the1980s. We stayed at the house of a friend and spent the entire weekend going on a pub crawl. Needless to say I don't remember much and certainly not this scene, nor even the lighthouse (I'm not proud to admit it! But we were young and we thought we were immortal!)
This is a great capture to show me some of what we missed!

You didn't miss much. Apart from the late and lamented Dreamland, Margate never had much to offer. The lighthouse was only built in the 1950's. But with the sort of photographer's "dream" lighting that we had yesterday, it's possible to get a picture almost anywhere.

I too am a serious drinker and a big spender. I ended the day by having a glass of tonic water (the quinine is supposed to prevent night cramps) with ice in the ginormous Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate. In any London or Home Counties pub that would have been £2 or more. There it was 89p.

When I get on a bus, I try to pick a seat that doesn't have a post in front, as I find it very distracting when trying to look ahead.

Yes, but buses don't have ornate, Victorian cast-iron posts there to be looked at.

You miss the point. My eyes cannot cope with the distraction of something 'in my face' whilst at the same time looking beyond. Move back. Give us the space to enjoy both.

And you have missed mine, which is that (despite the title) the subject, and what we're looking at, is the lamppost. The background is noticed afterwards.

The background is noticed at the same time. Each vies with the other.

Let's call that "dynamic tension". If I'd had a longer lens and there hadn't been a building behind me, preventing me from standing any further back, a shot with the lighthouse and boats larger in relation to the lamppost might have been better, I agree.

Dynamic tension? I'll have to practise that on the bus.

Different, not necessarily better. One big vertical, with numerous other verticals of varying size - this is what 'makes it' for me. (Also the depth, and the sumptuous colours, of course!)

Thanks, John. There is a dynamic between the two main verticals that creates a 3D "structure".

As for the colour, I've recently upgraded to Photomatix Pro and wish I'd done it years ago. Any of the effects it produces can no doubt be produced in any RAW developer by sliding the right sliders, but the presets in Photomatix are beautiful, and one of those was used here.