Author Archives: Alastair

Dark Park Railings

From Light to Dark – Reviewing the Walk

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My walk this week took me from light to dark in Brynmill Park in Swansea. I had visited the park on many previous occasions and so was interested in capturing some of the details of the place rather than a more open view of its land and waterscape.

It was good to start my short walk in the afternoon sunlight and watch the squirrels gathering their winter stores and the swans and ducks on the dark water of the lake, even though there was the most terrific fight between two of the ducks (not included in the soundscape below).Continue reading→

Dark Park Pattern

Dark Park

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Looking at and photographing Brynmill Park on my walk this week was a most interesting challenge. While my walk had started in sunlight, by the time the walking forum meeting I was there to attend finished, the light was fading fast and making for an increasingly dark park.

So none of these images are under-exposed – it was dark, but not so much so that my surroundings could not be seen. The complexity of form was flattened as the intricacy ofContinue reading→

Fighting ducks 5

Fighting Fit Like a Duck

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In this, the middle stage of my walk this week around Brynmill Park in Swansea, I was entertained (not sure if that is the right word) by a pair of fighting fit ducks going at each other tooth and nail . . . or should that be bill and feather?

Fighting ducks 1

This was a very serious argument which carried on a lot longer than 8 still images can describe. I wonder what it was about? Continue reading→

Dark Water

My Walk this Week – Towards a Dark Park

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My walk this week is a short one in two parts with my entrance to Brynmill Park in Swansea being in Winter sunshine and my exit being towards a dark park.

Brynmill Park

I am familiar with “dark parks” where there is little or no light pollution from human habitation and the stars shine in the most amazing way, but the night skies above Brynmill Park could not be described as being unpolluted by light. However, the park itself was certainly getting dark by the time I was leaving.Continue reading→

Fen grasses

Back at the Bramble Beginning – Reviewing the Walk

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Looking back from the bramble beginning by the road on my walk this week along the Tennant Canal near Swansea, South Wales, I can see and hear again some of the varied natural and industrial features of this environment that I enjoy so much.

return to the road

I first discovered the beauty of this place on a guided walk with a bird specialist who worked his magic at identifying and translating all the birds and, seemingly, their conversations. The ability the human brain has for focusing our senses in different ways is remarkable but there is no questionContinue reading→

Canal Crossings

Canal Crossings and A Reeding List

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The shapes and forms, colours and textures, light and shade of todays images from my walk this week along the Tennant Canal in Swansea, reflect both the weather conditions and the time of year. The various structures crossing the canal provided me with different views of the water and the reeds along the banks had thinned somewhat and reminded me of a list – a list of leaves or indeed, a reeding list!

Canal Containment

I love the “containment” of water reflections created by the shadows of the low railway bridge and the jigsaw of colourful stones mirrored by the canal’s still surface.Continue reading→

Dark Mirror

Dark Still Mirror and Expanding Ripples

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My walk this week took me under and over a number of structures spanning the Tennant Canal – railway track, vehicle track, road, motorway, footbridge and gantry. Underneath these the sound changed and the dark mirror that was the still water of the canal was broken by expanding ripples as drips dripped from the structures above.

expanding ripples

Walking over the gantry and footbridge gave me a slightly elevated view of the of the woodland reflections in the dark water. That does not mean the water was dark, in fact it was beautifully clear.Continue reading→

rusty fence

My Walk this Week – Reflecting On The Canal

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My walk this week is along a section of the Tennant Canal on the eastern edge of Swansea. I have walked along this footpath on a few occasions, the last time being a couple of years ago and  the conditions now are similar to what they were then.

reflection

Similar conditions does not mean I have taken the same photographs as last time, although the swans are still there and one posed perfectly for me while the other slept. Continue reading→