Tag Archives: willow

light and shade

My Walk this Week 249 – Altered View

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On my walk this week I had an altered view of my surroundings and the differences can be seen in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th images below.

I had been to the ophthalmologist for an eye check up following laser treatment and, as always, they put drops in my eyes to open the pupils as wide as possible. The result of this is that a lot more light gets in and this can be difficult to cope with. But I had my sunglasses with me so that when I went for a walk in the park afterwards the sunny day was not a problem but I had to rely on my iPhone to set itself correctly for the photos I took.

The photos below are what the camera saw except for numbers two and three. No.2 is an approximation of what I could see through my shades and No.3 is what I would have seen without the shades.

Sight, however, is not needed for sound and so I was able to capture snippets of conversation, the birds and the children, with only a small distortion from the wind which I was able to deal with in post production.

I must say that it was frustrating not to be able to see properly on my walk but that did not stop me focusing on some of the things I find interesting there – the “Whomping willow”, the shrub hugging the balustrade, the textures, if not the colours (which were distorted), and it’s good to see the effects of light and shade in the photos, albeit after the fact so to speak.

entrance
park - normal vision
park - shades vision
park - overexposed vision
balustrade hugging
ornamental footbridge
Whomping willow
plant texture
Yellow and red
intricate paths
walled garden wall
walled garden
light and shade
exit

Running Away (from a dark day?)

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As we came out of the Great Glass House at the National Botanic Garden of Wales on my walk this week, I looked at the impending weather and took a couple of shots. I had noticed the family in the middle ground but only realised the symmetry of the children running away from each other as part of a game after I had taken the photo.

Running Away

Those dark clouds did catch up with us but not at this point in our walk when I was still interested in the growth andContinue reading→

Fountain - Black and White

Fountain Photography in Stratford Park

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My walk this week through Stratford Park in Stroud brought me to a viewpoint where I could see that the fountain in the centre of the lake is offset from the vertical and rotates in at an angle. The effect against the dark background of trees was quite mesmerising.

fountain close up

Photographing the fountain was great fun at the time, and also afterwards when I increased the contrast in a couple of the shots and submitted one to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness blog post – MM 4-28.Continue reading→

Kunsthuis Gallery and Garden – Reviewing the Walk

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Looking back at my walk this week I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Kunsthuis Gallery, it’s garden and cafe. We’ll be back again there in November as well to attend an exhibition opening in which Julie Brunskill has a collection of her ceramic work. The garden will look different by then as it will be late Autumn rather than late Summer. While our focus will be on the exhibition, I may try to get some more photos of the garden to compare to those below and if so, I will make a point of recording the sounds of the garden as well. Sorry there is no soundscape for this weeks walk.

Garden Path

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Kunsthuis entrance
Kunsthuis Gallery
Kunsthuis Gardens
Summer Colour
River Rail
wildflowers
willow tunnel
Willow roof
willow exit

Willow Wall

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Returning from the wildflower garden to the children garden on my walk this week at Kunsthuis Gallery I explored one of its features. The willow tunnel entrance to this natural / man-made “dwelling” was too enticing not to do so. Bending down to child height I entered the dome shaped structure and enjoyed the changed and semi-secretive space with its growing willow walls and willow roof creating patterns and textures as it changed the sunlight from above.

willow wall

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willow tunnel
Willow roof
willow wall
willow exit

My Walk this Week – Woodland Wander

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My walk this week takes me back to Penllergare Valley Woods. I have produced StillWalks videos of all four seasons here but that is no reason not to take another look. In this walk the conditions are inevitably different and as well as that, further work has been done in the park by The Penllergare Trust volunteers.

I don’t remember this arbour and arch being here perviously and of course, the next time I visit, it will have grown more and changed again.

willow arbour in the making

I wil  be posting just one or two sound clips from the woods through this week, but I have a soundscape for the walk to post on Sunday with the walk review.

Penllergare Woodland Sounds

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Before and After – raw material and finished product

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There is a range of wood grown and used at Coeden Fach Woodland.

Here you can see the different stages of material and product with the wood growing, cut and layer in stacks ready for use and then the final product in the form of chairs.

Not all the material in the chairs is the same wood as is evident from the the different colours. My favourite is definitely the dogwood chair with its beautiful range of reds, greens, browns and yellows.

Coeden Fach canes

Coeden Fach canes

Coeden Fach chairs

Dogwood chair

This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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