My Walk this Week 131 – Wear and Tear – The Missing Post

Posted on 02/11/201806/11/2018 by Alastair

Wear and tear is all around us all the time and at the turning point of my walk this week along the beach in Swansea Bay, the high, rusty sea wall that creates the harbour entrance is one of my favourite pieces of evidence of this.

This is the missing post from last week, the third of the posts for My Walk this Week 131 – I don’t know what happened but have just seen that the schedule time was missed!

And the sea is one of the most powerful elements of erosion, wear and tear on the edges of landscape and it is so persistent and rhythmical in its insistence. Even on calm, bright days like this,Continue reading→

Seeing Snippets with a Photographic Blinker

Posted on 23/11/201619/11/2016 by Alastair

I like to think that I would spot different details or snippets of my surroundings regardless of the photographic blinker provided by a camera. But I also think that using a camera over the years has helped me to put a mental frame around aspects of my local environment that has allowed me more easily to focus on certain details.

On my walk this week along Aberavon seafront I took many photos, both detail shots and wide angle. Thinking of using them and my field recordings for a StillWalks video of this time and place, it was important for me to view the bigger picture as well as the details. The “bigger picture” shots below reveal that the sea fret that had lifted a little for a while, had descended again to mask the details in the distance.

Continue reading→

Looking West and Reviewing the Week 57

Posted on 14/02/201614/02/2016 by Alastair

I am not often walking on Swansea Bay when the tide is in – for some reason it seems to be out far more often. This must be coincidence but it means that when I am there when the tide is high, it feels new and fresh, a bit like the way snow changes the landscape.

The tide was not particularly high on this occasion but it was still lapping at the foot of the promenade steps and this, for me, is an almost iconic sound of the place. So click the play button below for an aural backdrop to the images posted about my walk this week. Click the first thumbnail image to view them in sequence.

Waves on Promenade Steps

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

Scale in the Bay – Swansea Sea Wall

Posted on 13/02/201613/02/2016 by Alastair

Swansea harbour sea wall is, to my mind, an amazing structure. The textures, colours and patterns of this seemingly huge scabrous metal arm that reaches far out into the bay intrigue and fascinate me. I say “seemingly” and “intrigue” because of the deceptive sense of scale that it presents to the walker as you proceed towards it along the beach.

Until you are standing right next to it, you do not realise how much it will tower above you. No doubt this has to do with its length relative to its height – a length that helps guide some of the flotsam and jetsam up to the top of the beach.

Proportional Representation – Two Views

Posted on 22/01/201522/01/2015 by Alastair

I don’t know what proportion (if any) of the people of Mumbles would go for proportional representation if it were available in the forthcoming May election in the UK. Disregarding politics, below is another take (or two) on the term that is more akin to cropping in photography.

It was a dreary day when I took these photos but, for me, that is no reason not to take them. The range of textures in the scene is what interests me most, from the finer grain of the concrete in the sea wall to the lumpy rocks and stones on the foreshore, to the fuzzy grey textures of the trees on the hill. All of this interspersed with the softer green moss on the wall and the sand separating the stones on the beach. And then there are the patterns and colours of buildings and people stretched across the centre of the frame.

At least it wasn’t raining!

Seeing the Sea Wall – A Confusion of Scale

Posted on 11/10/201411/10/2014 by Alastair

The scale of the sea wall separating Swansea beach and Swansea harbour can be seen here without to much ambiguity. However, when looking from the top end, at its lowest point to the ground, a confusion of scale becomes apparent.

While it seems from the top of the beach that the wall doesn’t “grow” in size much at all, as you walk towards the sea beside the wall, it becomes gradually apparent, until, at its highest point, you realise the true scale of it towering above you. The same effect of space distorted can be seen if you approach the wall “broadside” from a distance along the beach.

It doesn’t matter that I know the scale of the wall and have approached it in this way many time, that strange confusion of scale does its trick on my perception of it every time.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of spacial effect here or anywhere else?

Focusing on Perspective

Posted on 07/10/201407/10/2014 by Alastair

Walking out on Swansea harbour wall or pier, I had forgotten just how long it is – deceptively so. The tidal range in Swansea Bay is big in so far as the sea goes out a long way and I guess a tidal harbour in a location like this needs those long walls.

The distance and scale of the structure can play havoc with your sense of perspective and space.