Stixdan's border patrol: Night at the Tank Museum 1

Night at the Tank Museum 1

23rd July 2021

I heard about a photography event at the Tank Museum in Bovington where they were going to set some tanks up outside and light them up once the sun had gone down, which sounded like it could be fun and I knew just the man who might want to come along with me. So Robert and I headed down to Dorset with our cameras in hand to find out what it was like.

The evening was great, very well organised with the tanks parked up in the Kuwait Arena with loads of space around them. This gave us a great opportunity to get all round the vehicles and take shots from all sorts of angles. As the number of people was limited, there was less chance of anyone standing in the way - plus, everyone was really friendly and conscientious about avoiding spoiling each other's shots.

We took photos before the sun was setting and then as it was going down, which was a great time for the light as it looked really dramatic. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because there was a huge storm coming in - thunder and lightning. For some reason, the guys figured it would be better to put the giant metal boxes back inside rather than standing around them with potential lightning strikes!

So, we didn't get the night time shots, but it was a great experience and I think I got some really nice photos. It would be great to do it again in the dark.

We did go back for a second Night at the Tank Museum, this time indoors and actually dark - the photos are here.

This is a selection of my favourite photos that I took on the day. I've avoided doing much in the way of processing on the computer, other than a bit of cropping, so most of the photos are as-is out of the camera, which I'm quite proud of.

These two photos show the size of the arena and the drama added by the sun setting.

Scorpion

A light tank, or 'Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked)', developed in Britain in the 1970's. It holds the record as the fastest tank in the world, clocking in at over 50mph. Luckily, it was stationary as we were trying to photograph it...

This was the first one I tried to shoot when we arrived as it had the fewest people around it. It was in a good position by the grass bank, giving a nice background and also the opportunity to easily get above it and shoot downwards. It felt like a good one to start trying to get my eye in.

Daimler Armoured Car

OK, not a tank, but pretty close! Used by the British in World War II, it was quite a feat of engineering with all four wheels being individually sprung that contributed to making it incredibly good off-road.

I think I could have perhaps got a couple of more interesting angles on this one, but it was framed quite nicely. Bit of horrible fencing in the background that I couldn't do much about unfortunately - unless maybe I'd got some shots from a very low angle looking up. Would be good to try that again.

M16 Half-Track

Another not-tank, but I've always liked the aesthetics of half-tracks. There's something cool about them. This one is an American World War II vehicle, armed with four brutal machine guns on the back - deadly to low-flying aircraft and infantry.

Apart from the horrible fence behind it, it was a good opportunity to try out some different angles. And then, when the sun was setting, I came back to it and took the fourth picture, which had a really striking reflection on one of the armour plates. I liked the different effects that could be achieved when the lighting changed, which made me excited to think about what the LED lighting might do once it was fully dark. Of course, we never got to experience that on this occasion, but I was hoping to at the next one that would be indoors.

T-72

A proper tank! This Soviet tank went into service towards the end of the 1960's. Variations have been seen in action all the way up to the 2010's.

This tank has a great profile with the gun raised like that. I was also particularly interested in looking at the wear and tear on the front of the track guards, trying to see how I might paint some miniatures with similar realistic effects.

Again, I went back to this one as the sun was setting, and the lovely red light pouring across the arena really made this tank look nice. Just a shame about all the crap behind it - the vehicles round this end of the arena really would have benefitted with some sort of screen or something behind them.

Type 59

This Chinese tank was a variation on the Soviet T-54A and saw service for around 50 years from the early 1950's.

I much preferred having the stone wall as a backdrop here, rather than the concrete blocks and falling-down fencing on the other side of the arena. It was also nice to see the museum in the background, so I tried to capture that as much as possible in some of the shots.

This tank got incredibly moody as the sun was setting and the storm clouds were gathering overhead, which looked brilliant from the right angle. I thought so, anyway!

Sherman M4A3E8 'Fury'

The famous tank from the movie of the same name. 'Fury' is a variation on the standard American Sherman tank - in fact, according to the Tank Museum website, their tank is really an M4A2E8, but it plays an M4A2E8 in the movie. I thought that 'Fury' was supposed to be the Firefly variant, but apparently not (that's the M4A4). Both variations have an extended wheelbase and bigger gun than the standard Sherman.

I really liked the backdrop here of the big tree and the bunker, and the concrete blocks actually seemed to fit. Strangely, this one was probably the hardest to get a good shot with no one walking in the background - maybe I was just there at the wrong time, but people walking over to the Leopard and round the back was a bit of a pain. Still, I think I got some good shots, and you can see Robert and I are clearly happy to be standing next to such a big movie star!

This was another one that I came back to as the sun was setting, to catch it with a nice elongated shadow. Wasn't as dramatic as some of the other sunset shots, but I thought it was quite nice.

Leopard C2

This tank was a modification of the Leopard 1, which had been developed in West Germany after World War II. The Canadians took a number of Leopard C1's in the late 1970's and started tweaking the design, but it was not until the late 1990's that the upgraded Leopard C2 rolled into service.

Sitting high on the mound in the arena, this was a real treat to photograph. Easier to get nice shots, particularly from low angles, without any horrible backgrounds. I really liked the bits of concrete and twisted steel rebar; from the right angle, it really seemed like the tank was cresting some defended position. It looked pretty imposing from there. The character was quite different when taking shots from the same sort of place while the sun was setting, looking somewhat more noble to me.

Mark IV 'Big Brute'

I really like the look of these old World War I tanks. Maybe it's watching Indiana Jones fighting on one (quite anachronistically) in The Last Crusade, maybe I just like the tracks going all the way round the body. I just think they look cool. This actual tank was a replica that was built for the movie 'War Horse', based on an original Mark IV at the museum. The guys at the museum were so impressed at the accuracy and detail of the prop that they acquired it after the movie was complete, so that they could drive a World War I tank around the arena without risking the original vehicles.

I assume, therefore, that most of the wear and tear, corrosion, rusting etc. has actually been added on artificially, as this tank hasn't really been sitting around for a century. I took quite a few close up shots of those details to help with painting miniatures, because it looked so effective.

When the sun set, this tank really changed its appearance. It was a great one to try some low angles on, a really special tank to photograph.