starfish on the move

Safe For Swimming – Flags and Patterns On the Beach

I liked the bright red and yellow flags on Aberavon Beach when taking this week’s walk there. They denote an area where it is safe to swim but I don’t think the child in this picture, walking determinedly up the beach, had been swimming.

A determined stride

This wasn’t the only young one on the beach – there were plenty of other children running around of course, but also starfish on the move. The patterns made in the sand by the starfish weren’t the only ones eitherContinue reading

Enjoying the sunshine

My Walk this Week – An Angle On the Beach

My walk this week is along Aberavon Beach on the eastern side of Swansea Bay. It was warm but overcast when we started out and I suppose that might account for the clothing that one of these beach anglers was wearing.

anglers angling

The sun soon showed up, however, and justified the clothing of the others on the beach as well as their activities.

Aberavon has an expansive and beautiful beach but it is slightly strange to see mechanical monsters seemingly so close on the skyline.Continue reading

sand surface

My Walk this Week and the Influence of Angle

My walk this week is one I have taken many times but as always, the conditions are different every time. On this occasion it was the angle from which I was viewing things that had a strong the influence on my photography of the walk.

beach love

For instance, it may be obvious to many of you what the image above shows, but as I passed by on Swansea Bay’s wonderful expansive beach, for some reason I thought to myself, “That’s a funny thing to draw in shells on the beach” – I thought it looked like a boot! (I know, don’t ask! Lol). Continue reading

Dark Skies and Sunsets

Dark sky

The photographs in my posts for my walk this week from the past (2009) were taken on my old Fuji compact camera – they are not monochrome as such but the camera has a “chrome” setting on it which in the high contrast light conditions that these photos were taken, gave a quite interesting and dramatic effect. Continue reading

Taste of Gower Oxwich 6 – Stripes on the Beach

wet stripes on Oxwich beach

Stripes of water and sand on the beach and stripes of cloud in the sky at Oxwich Bay (see below).

On my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers at Oxwich Bay, the walkers ahead of me stretch across the beach and as the sun comes round I find that using my zoom lens (a Canon 70-300 mm 1:4 – 5.6 IS USM for those of you who are interested) brings out the contrast of light and dark. This both emphasises the striped patterns on the beach and the shade of Oxwich point in the background.

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Taste of Gower Oxwich 5 – Breaking the Rules of Photography

couple on beach

During this Taste of Gower walk at Oxwich I had conversations with a couple of people about photography and the “rule” of not taking photographs into the sun or keeping the light behind you.  It’s not a bad rule in general and particularly useful for holiday snapshots. Apart from any tricks of the trade which can be used when you need to shoot into the light, deliberately taking a shot against the light can give some very interesting results and indeed, if you want silhouettes this is the way to get them.

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Trailing the Railings

Returning towards the starting point of my walk this week along Aberavon seafront in south Wales I followed the railings along the promenade and at the point where they turned a right angle ahead of me, I found an amazing mosaic of patterns created by them.

railings

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A Different Landscape

Having climbed up from the beach via the sand buried steps (see below) on my walk this week at Aberavon, south Wales, I continued east along the promenade path and found a different landscape to that which I had been enjoying down on the sand. The sea fret had lifted slightly as evidenced by a clearer view of the cranes but turning round and looking inland, the mist was still hanging low over the hills and the light, or lack of it, was still apparent and somehow fitting for the old ruined wooden harbour wall and jetties.

old jetty

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