12th June 2006
A unique set of eleven evocative photographs showing the oceans of the world in their various moods has been donated to IMarEST - the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology by Lord Greenway, an Hon. Fellow of the Institute and chairman of its Memorial Fund Committee.
The gift arose after Lord Greenway visited the Ocean Suite at the City of London-based headquarters of the Institute, which includes the City Conference Centre. The bareness of the walls did not inspire his imagination as a photographer, so he decided they should be made more attractive in a way appropriate to the work of the Institute.
The eleven photographs, all of which demonstrate the virtues of black and white photography, range from a storm tossed day in the Bay of Biscay to seas as calm as the proverbial mill pond. They were taken at locations around the world ranging from S.E. Australia to the Straits of Gibraltar and from Panama to Poole Bay.
Lord Greenway is a photographer and author of a number of books on maritime history. He is also an accomplished ocean sailor and one of the photographs presented to IMarEST was taken after competing in the Sydney-Hobart race.
"I have been taking pictures of the sea and ships for 40 years," he explained at a reception for the IMarEST President and Board of Trustees. "I have a huge archive and thought it would be rather nice to get some of them printed and framed for the Institute. Because of the name of the Suite in which they hang, I selected pictures of the ocean rather than of ships - indeed, the ships are almost incidental."
The largest of the donated photographs measures five feet across and was taken when Lord Greenway was on his godfather's yacht in the Bay of Biscay in the 1970s heading towards Spain. All the photographs were taken on film but were converted to the modern digital format for enlargement. Because of the marriage of the two photographic technologies, many of the prints look almost like etchings or even abstracts, which further enhance their artistic and aesthetic appeal.
IMarEST plans to produce a leaflet showing all eleven photographs and providing background information on each.
Information on IMarEST is available from www.imarest.org; and on the City Conference Centre at www.cityconferencecentre.co.uk
