The Great Escape

A week of wandering and pondering, blue skies and golden fields. It’s been a long while since I’d had a proper holiday (or seen the sun). I had plenty of time to become reacquainted with my camera (and remember what all the buttons do).

As you may has noticed; This post is just a brief summary of my Field Notes from the week.

I will start posting my ‘real’ photos as soon as I’ve had a chance to go through them all. I shot about 450 frames over about four and half days so hopefully I’ll have something worth sharing…

Much love to la familia, thanks for having me.

Goldberry

O slender as a willow-wand! O clearer than clear water!
O reed by the living pool! Fair river-daughter!
O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!
O wind on the waterfall, and the leaves’ laughter!

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

Deluge

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

John Lennon, Beautiful Boy

Where does the time go?

These photos were taken in October but they might as well have been shot last week (the weather was the same after all..).

I’m about to switch over to Adobe Lightroom from iPhoto and I’m hoping the increased level of organisation will help me be a bit more productive.

I suppose updating this blog more than once in a blue moon would be as good a start as any.

P.S.
Speaking of Mr Lennon, this is definitely worth a watch.

Mine Depot

This is the second set of photos shot with my FE (still the first film though).

RNAD Milford Haven (or the Mine Depot as it is known by everyone except the MOD) closed in the 1980s as the Cold War petered out. It’s been empty for as long as I can remember and though apparently it did once once hold an indoor athletics arena it has long been left to decay.

There’s a much better explanation and more exciting photos (from the interior of the complex) on various sites such as Derelict Places and Forlorn Britain.

I believe there are plans to convert the site for the development and refining biodiesel but err.. we’ll see…

Home

I recently picked up a Nikon FE body on eBay and shot film seriously for the first time in years. These photos are from the first test roll I ran through the camera to check it was still working and to see if I could remember what all the fuss is about.

Fair enough, I am convinced, when it comes to black and white at least.

There are a lot of people out there who hate digital black and white because it’s so smooth because of the lack of grain but that is exactly why I like it. I love being about to really crank up the contrast without having to worry about losing detail, fuzzy shadows or sullying the bokeh.

These images are different. That punchy contrast might be unavailable but they have a charm of their own that current digital cameras can’t seem to capture.

There is a delicacy of touch, these are sketches in 2H compared to the 6B of digital.

Hello Stranger

Right then, sorry for my prolonged absence. My host server had a total hardware failure (apparently the whole RAID array went for a Burton) so I was left without a website for a few weeks.

I think everything is back to normal now but please let me know if you find anything that’s broken.

To be honest I just knocked this post up because I was concerned about the lack of colour on the front page.

The photos were shot down in Newgale (…as if you don’t recognise it by now).

Nothing particularly exciting I’m afraid but I need to try out my new 20mm f2.8 and to practice some colour and texture stuff in Photoshop.

Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah

I’ll be honest, meeting any animal that’s larger than I am tends to freak me out a bit, even friendly ponies, roaming free along the coastal path.

The unusual situation and harsh light meant my exposures were really out but at least that made for some good dodging and burning practice.

With thanks to C.S. Lewis for the title.

Foel Eryr

With bright sunshine, an contrail free sky and a fresh pay cheque burning a hole in my packet we headed over to Cardigan to visit howies (and hand over all my hard-earned shekels).

Taking the direct route means passing right over the top of the Preselis so it would have rude no to take a quick stroll up Foel Eryr.

I have stuck a few colour photos from my iPhone up on Field Notes.

Oh, and that’s not just any pile of rocks, it’s a bronze age burial cairn.

It’s always a strange feeling standing somewhere where people once stood 4000 years ago.

Tales From The Riverbank

Fortune’s Frolic is a footpath which starts on the banks the meandering Western Cleddau at Higgon’s Well and slowly rises up to St. Ishmael’s in Uzmaston.

Criterion

Oh dear. I kept telling myself, “it’s only been a couple of weeks,” but it hasn’t. It’s been over a month since I posted anything here.

So here we are: Nothing exciting, just some test shots from my new Nikkor 35mm f/2.5 Series E straight out of the camera.

I’ve also been playing with a new Plugin, click the photos to see what happens.

Kelpies

No prizes for guessing the location. Monday was bright and clear so we headed down to the beach.

The tide was still quite far in when we arrived so we headed off up the cliff path, where we were met by an unexpected (but very friendly and inquisitive) welcoming party.

Please see the Field Notes for 23rd Feb for details.

Flight

I don’t usually post rough work on this site but I was playing around with some video footage yesterday and I had to post these stills up.

Schism

So then, even more black and white, textural, shallow DOF stuff.

I hope you’re not getting too tired of these. I’ll try to sort out some more colourful shots for next time.

Anachronism

Sometimes I feel out of time. Not that time has run out, it is still flowing but I am outside of its jurisdiction.

Sometimes I just feel free, other times I think I’m just going around the bend, sucked into the West Wales timewarp.

Fracture

It took millenia to trace these patterns, the hand of time to sketch the lines and etch them into the rock.

You could make it your life’s work and still not find the time to create something as intricate as this.

I am in thrall to nature and I hope it never ends.

Graveyard

For the record, no I am not a goth.

I do believe in ghostly occurances but I don’t think they are the lost spirits of the dead or anything like that.

That said, I don’t see why explaining these events away should make them any less intriguing.

Aur Cymru

Time for a splash of colour, to reminisce about a warm, early Summer evening and forget about the Winter gloom.

If anyone wondered: Yes, this is intended to be a counterpoint to the entry called South Hook.

Memento Mori

Another year gone. I can’t see 2009 being a particularly vintage year for me. It started well but then it all sort of… tailed off.

But so what? Nature doesn’t rush.

Sometimes you need to take a step back and chill. Let yourself be free to be whipped by the storm, pulled hither and thither by the tide. You never know where you might wash up.

The key is not to go under. You’ll stay lost forever.

Manchester

About ten months ago I went up to Newcastle to visit Tom. On a whim I decided to start for home a day early and spend twenty four hours in Manchester.

If you think I am a little late in posting these images you should bear in mind it’s taken me about four years to actually take them.

More new entries on the way, I promise.

South Hook

If you follow the coast, west out of Milford Haven, South Hook is the first sandy beach you will come to.

Not that you’d want to spend much time there as it is also the site of the largest LNG regasification terminal in Europe.