Wave Mechanics - Thames 365

Day 58

2009-01-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 58, originally uploaded by tina-m.

28/01/09: Horrible drizzly day in town, break in the rain and I took this photo by Blackfriars bridge.

Day 57

2009-01-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 57, originally uploaded by tina-m.

27/01/09: Day in town! A clear nice day, this photo was trying to catch reflections in the water from the HMS Belfast.

Day 55

2009-01-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 55, originally uploaded by tina-m.

25/01/09: Clear calm day. Reflections from the blue sky and a bit of wake from passing boats.

Day 54

2009-01-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

240109, originally uploaded by tina-m.

Day 53

2009-01-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 53, originally uploaded by tina-m.

23/01/09: late windy day down in Greenwich

Day 52

2009-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 52, originally uploaded by tina-m.

22/01/09: just a day. Very dreary and grey, reflected in the water.

Day 51

2009-01-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

Wavemechanics: 51, originally uploaded by tina-m.

21/01/09

Day 50

2009-01-20T09:08:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 20, originally uploaded by tina-m.

Day 20: Late afternoon, and I just coat one of the Thames Clipper boats as it past. So on the right is the actual spray from right behind the inboard engines. A clear blue sky and nice sparkling reflections.

Day 49

2009-01-20T09:08:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 19, originally uploaded by tina-m.

Day 19: A bit windier today so some waves but this is cheating, it's boat wake. ;) Still, I love the froth.

Day 48

2009-01-20T09:07:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 18, originally uploaded by tina-m.

Day 18: Just back from Dorset ride (which is why there are no images from the last week!) and soooo tired. Just a late afternoon photo, facing west, at the usual pier in Greenwich

Day 38

2009-01-08T14:13:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 38, originally uploaded by tina-m.

08/01/09: A lovely misty day, just near dusk.

You can just hear the quiet lapping of the water at low tide. I took this standing way out underneath the pier looking west.

Day 37

2009-01-07T09:35:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 37, originally uploaded by tina-m.

7/1/09: Different camera! Used the 300D near dusk to see if the low-light abilities on automatic would be better. And boy are they.

Quite a low tide but I walked down to the water edge and waited for one of the commuter boats to go past. A great pattern of wake and calm with lights from the flats (condos, for the Americans) across the water reflected. And the start of a wave catching the debris below to crash over on itself.

Day 36

2009-01-07T09:35:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 36, originally uploaded by tina-m.

6/1/09: A very dark photo, but I tried not to go out so late as yesterday, from the Canon A1000, only barely getting some of the pink dusk light on the horizon. Calm, high tide.

Day 35

2009-01-07T09:34:00.005-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 35, originally uploaded by tina-m.

5/1/09: A late visit to the river tonight I'm afraid - so another 'artsy' photo of the flash reflecting straight up off the water.

Day 34

2009-01-07T09:34:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 34, originally uploaded by tina-m.

4/1/09: Splashes on the riverbed rocks and debris at Greenwich. This camera is no good for any action, will be switching to the 300D for Greenwich shots.

Day 33

2009-01-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 33, originally uploaded by tina-m.

3/1/09: A guest spot from the north side of the river! Taken on a day off by London Bridge.

Day 32

2009-01-07T09:33:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 32, originally uploaded by tina-m.

2/1/09: A very heavily altered image! I couldn't resist, playing with levels on a very dark (nearly black onscreen) image gave so much colour and tone information. Amazing really.

Looking straight down to the water from the river wall railing, slight shadows on either side are from the wall supports.

Day 31

2009-01-07T09:32:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics 365: 31, originally uploaded by tina-m.

1/1/09: Happy New Year! A windy day making slightly choppy water.

Day 30

2009-01-04T10:36:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics: 30, originally uploaded by tina-m.

30/12/08: Little ripples near the river wall on a calm day, high-ish tide.

Day 29

2009-01-04T10:36:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics: 29, originally uploaded by tina-m.

29/12/08: Splashing waves on the river bed, usual spot in Greenwich under Lovell's Wharf pier.

Day 28

2009-01-04T10:35:00.005-08:00

Wavemechanics: 28, originally uploaded by tina-m.

28/12/08: Mini surf on the river! If only gnomes had surfboards, this is where they'd be today. Blustery winds giving constant lapping of waves on the foreshore, just near the Trafalgar Tavern.

Day 27

2009-01-04T10:35:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics: 27, originally uploaded by tina-m.

27/12/08: Just a calm, dreary grey day.

Day 26

2009-01-04T10:35:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics: 26, originally uploaded by tina-m.

26/12/08: Enjoying Boxing Day! The light is just right to pick out a good contrast between the river bed and the murky water today.

Day 25

2009-01-04T10:33:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics: 25, originally uploaded by tina-m.

25/12/08: Merry Christmas! A brisk walk into Greenwich and I walked down the steps to the water - just somewhere between low and high tide. Water making nice circular lapping patterns as it *just* passes neatly over the stone step.

Day 24

2009-01-04T10:32:00.003-08:00

Wavemechanics: 24, originally uploaded by tina-m.

24/12/08: Christmas Eve... and so so calm down by the river. Almost no movement, just very slight ripples on the water underneath the Lovell's Wharf pier.

Day 23

2009-01-04T10:32:00.001-08:00

Wavemechanics: 23, originally uploaded by tina-m.

23/12/08: Another breezy day showing the movement of water along the surface.

Day 22: Rock pool

2008-12-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is technically a rock pool, not being the sea. But at Greenwich when the tide is very low the furthest shoreline surface is actually solid rock and concrete. It looks like mucky mud, I've always hestitated to walk out to it in my usual boots but ventured out for the photo today and was surprised it was solid!

So the pools of water sit until waves splash back up, but the water is quite calm today.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 21: Tide going out

2008-12-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

Just another day in my usual Greenwich spot. The tide is moving out and you can catch odd lighter lines in the moving water showing the movement outwards. I've always liked this effect but don't know how or why it happens. I'm guessing it's actually surface bubbles or debris being dragged by the direction of the waves.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 20: Night flash

2008-12-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

By Greenwich pier in the evening, after some shopping! It was dark but the high tide meant I could photograph pretty close to the water surface over the railing. I let the auto-flash have a try and liked the reflection of flash off the ripples of water.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 19: Low tide with sand

2008-12-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

Sandy part of the shore, as opposed to the rocks and rubbish by my usual photo spot! So another low tide when I was photographing meant I could capture the footprints of a mysterious Londoner and her dog.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 18: Blackfriars again

2008-12-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

Another guest spot by the river at Blackfriars (Gabriel's Wharf to be exact, I was working in Skylark Gallery today).

A bit blah day, we did have patches of sun but not when I took my photo. Tide was out somewhat so had water lapping at the sand and debris.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 17: Sun! Glorious sun!

2008-12-17T05:59:00.001-08:00

Haven't seen it in at least a week and today the sky is blue and the sun is out! So despite getting some nice photos of footprints in the sand (the river banks are sand by Blackfriars Bridge and it's low tide right now) I just had to go with something blue and cheerful.

Fairly calm day but as I'm in central London for this photo there's a tiny bit of choppiness from boat traffic.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 16: (late!) River wall

2008-12-17T05:56:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd show you a bit of that river wall I keep mentioning. This is actually just a bit of it on the side of the steps I sometimes am photographing from. Still high tide so not much wall visible, but I love the telltale algae build-up.

A calm slightly hazy day, so calm water just lapping at the sides.

Sorry this was a bit late. I was up late last night getting my podcast done (StudioWaves, listen here!) and updated this to Flickr but forgot about the blog. Oops!

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 15: night levels

2008-12-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

15/12/08: Another night shot - forget to go in daylight! Colour is completely arficial - result of the auto-levels in Photoshop. No other editing - it amazes me the data that is actually in the photo despite it looking completely black straight from the camera. (Light reflected is from the O2 Dome.)

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 14: Turbulence

2008-12-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

Looking down along the river wall the high tide was moving along the wall and between pillars of piers. I wanted to capture the way the water was moving two directions due to posts under the water surface, and the black 'hole' near the center is the start of a little whirlpool. The water is then moving away from that area in both directions, producing the two wave lines.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 13: Splash!

2008-12-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

I missed the rain, shame, but it's a very high tide today (full moon) with heavy rolling waves. Nothing major but you can just feel the weight of the water in them. So here's a splash against the river wall.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 12: Barely there

2008-12-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

Got out to the river around dusk and only with extreme Photoshop adjustments did I get anything other than a black square.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 11: Conspiracy

2008-12-12T10:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning, in an evil plot concocted by the Cylons and Ferengi, the Thames river was stolen. To what end, it's not clear. Fortunately by 00:01GMT today the river was returned to its rightful place in the spacetime continuum by a mysterious man in a long military coat. (Rumours of the name "Jack" have been heard, but cannot be confirmed.) Those who say they saw the river yesterday were actually just subject to a hynotic mass delusion.

Needless to say it was impossible for me to take a photograph of the missing river.

Day 10: Cruise boat reflections

2008-12-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

My first night photo, inspired by Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark blog who pointed out basically that I had no excuse for missing a photo - I could do night shots.

This is the reflections of lights from one of the cruise boats that commutes back and forth between Greenwich Pier and the Dome.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 9: the video

2008-12-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Okay it's a bit silly but here's the video.

Day 9: So cold!

2008-12-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

Yikes was it freezing out this morning! I decided to get straight out of bed and go do my photo this morning. A windy cold day, so there were nice flowing waves on the surface. Sunny and bright, but the colour actually changed immediately from blue to green grey as cloud blew over.

The whole Wavemechanics 365 series on Flickr

Day 8: Muddy low tide

2008-12-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't resist bringing in the image to the shore a bit today. I managed to go out to the river at the lowest tide time and there was just all that lovely stretch of mud and stones. A very low tide, but not a spring tide (moon is about 3/4). ('Spring tide' is a tide with the greatest difference between low and high water levels in a cycle, nothing to do with the season.)

The whole series on Flickr

Day 7: Another blue skies day!

2008-12-07T09:55:00.001-08:00

On Flickr

Day 6: (oops, late!) Circular

2008-12-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

On Flickr

Day 5: Shallow water

2008-12-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

On Flickr

Day 4: Bubbles

2008-12-04T08:07:00.001-08:00

On Flickr

Day 3: Boat waves at Blackfriars Bridge

2008-12-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

On Flickr

Day 2: Blue water and boat wake

2008-12-02T02:46:00.001-08:00

On Flickr

Welcome! Day 1

2008-12-01T05:35:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Wave Mechanics! A blog sharing my project of 365 photos of the River Thames in London. A lot of artists have been doing 365 projects, a task of taking a photo a day for a year, and I wanted to do something interesting, accessible (it's a 5 minute walk to the river for me), and relevent to the rest of my artwork.

The water surface of the Thames is the perfect ever-changing subject matter.

You can also see the whole series on my Wave Mechanics set Flickr page, in case you want to access previous images more easily.

An added note: while I will be publishing these images in future I would still like to share them under Creative Commons for others to use as source material. I thought it might be particularly useful for artists trying to capture waves and ripples, or water patterns and reflections generally. So please do use the images under the attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license. [Nitty gritty: this means you can use the image for non-commercial activities (blog, artwork studies or as part of a larger artwork) and I just ask that you mention me as the original artist. You can even alter the image, as long as you do the same thing and attribute the original to me so more people can enjoy the 365 series! You don't need to ask permission, I trust you.]

Thames 365 by Tina Mammoser is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.