I imagine that a photograph of a grain elevator might not be such an interesting image for everyone but I rather like this shot.
Thunder Bay is on the north shore of Lake Superior and has been an important trading post for centuries as trade goods are brought from the remote parts of western Canada and then shipped across the Great Lakes and exported around the world, from fur, timber, Iron and Silver and of course grain from the great prairies.
This shot was taken from the marina and shows a view of one of the remaining grain elevators and one of the grain ships being loaded. The pontoon in the foreground is a protective barrier for the expensive boats in the lagoon and a popular perch for the seagulls that live and fish along the shore.
Those who have seen my blog before will know that I like landscapes and I love reflections and so yesterday while I was out along Liverpool's dock road I thought that I would give a different take on landscapes, they are certainly a grim contrast to the images of Snowdonia that I have shared in the past week.
Although many of the docks are empty and disused the pictures above show that there is at least one thriving export business in this part of dockland (to be fair there are other busy docks along the waterfront too but as you get closer to the city centre they are more run down). Scrap metal is brought into Liverpool by the truck load, crushed and processed and then loaded on ships and sent around the world. Recycling on a grand scale, producing mountains of metal rising from the dock side. I particularly like the 2nd and 3rd pictures today because they give a good sense of the size and scale of these great heaps.
Several years ago one of these mountains caught fire and burned for weeks and I can remember watching, from my office in Bootle, the plume of smoke and the flames rising above the River Mersey.
