It had been windy and overcast as we made our way from our hotel, along Bournemouth‘s cliff, then its seafront, then down its pier as is pretty traditional when we visit our fellow south coast city in England (see: Bournemouth Seafront Walk). However, as were coming off the pier the rain started to come down so we broke from our normal routine of just getting a drink and dived into the Oceanarium opposite the pier’s end for some shelter and to take a look at and photograph the many marine and land animals it housed.
Photographing any dark attraction with flash restrictions always take me out of my comfort zone and into the world of high ISO photography but it’s doubly unnerving in an aquarium where things are moving, the light varies from second to second, and you’re trying to take pictures through glass that’s either distorted or filthy with fingerprints or both.
The sea turtles were very photogenic and moved slowly enough and in a light enough tank to get some reasonably sharp shots.
A semi-outdoors area housed some penguins and Inca terns. The ventilation wasn’t quite enough to take away the smell of fish that accompanies any gathering of penguins but you learn to live with it as they’re quite humorous to observe, occasionally pushing one another into the water or sliding into it on purpose but with zero grace.
My favourite area were the tanks holding moon jellies. I find them utterly mesmerising and stunningly beautiful to simply watch and photograph.
