[Photo Feature] Ferries In Context

By: Gary Andrews
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STENA HORIZON loading February 2016. Image: Gordon Hislip.
STENA HORIZON loading February 2016. Image: Gordon Hislip.

Ferry photography means many things to many people. Sometimes the target is just to capture an amazing image of a ship but sometimes it is to capture something else. That “something else” puts the ship in context.

NIFS correspondent Gordon Hislip has put together this short gallery which illustrates how a ferry image can say a thousand words.

Ferries large and small are surely linking two ends of a road? They provide that vital bridge from where one island ends to where another begins. Our cover image was taken at Holyhead in February 2016. We can see the STENA HORIZON filling up with cars. In the background we can see the ULYSSES preparing to sail. At this time STENA HORIZON was operating on the Stena Line Dublin – Holyhead route to provide refit cover.

The “night boat to Liverpool”

In our next image we think about the historic “night boat to Liverpool”. Many of these sailings are very busy and this is no exception. We can see fridge motors rumbling away on the weather deck of P&O Ferries’ NORBAY as she hurries away from Dublin Bay. The Wicklow mountains are seen to the left, Howth and the Baily to the right, and the city lights just visible in the middle astern. Gordon took this image in June 2015. P&O Ferries’ continues to operate a four ship freight service on the Liverpool – Dublin route.

NORBAY at sea June 2015.  Image: Gordon Hislip
NORBAY at sea June 2015. Image: Gordon Hislip

Size is a matter of perspective

Many of our modern ferries are massive but sometimes they look smaller depending on the context. A little bit of Wales, a little bit of Ireland, almost 51,000 tonnes of Finnish craft and the peaks of the Isle of Man visible in one shot from 2016. The mighty ULYSSES plying her trade approaches Holyhead, photographed from the nearby mountain. The ULYSSES has now been in service for over 20 years on Irish Ferries’ Holyhead – Dublin route.

ULYSSES off the Holyhead coast in 2016. Image: Gordon Hislip.
ULYSSES off the Holyhead coast in 2016. Image: Gordon Hislip.

Ireland’s EU connections in context

With Brexit we have had a never-ending diet of headlines about Ireland’s connections to the EU. Here we see it in reality. Supply chain logistics meets Ireland’s rocky shores. In this view from 2014, CLdN‘s packed OPALINE passes Dalkey Island and the remains of Saint Benedict’s Church on her approach into Dublin Bay from Rotterdam.

OPALINE approaching Dublin Bay in 2014. Image: Gordon Hislip.
OPALINE approaching Dublin Bay in 2014. Image: Gordon Hislip.

With special thanks to Gordon Hislip.


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