One of the main features on my walks on our local salt marsh back in 2010 was the marsh grass, their profusion and tallness. As mentioned in my previous walk here from the past (Past Walks 4), the grasses were all trampled to nothing by cows in the years between then and now. Hopefully they will return permanently to their former glory. Continue reading
As a diversion from my walk this week I thought I would take a brief look at the exciting and experimental weekend I have just had as part of the Get Creative weekend I took part in at The Waterside-Felindre with Collective Headspace.Continue reading
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.
Looking through the entrance archway of Cardiff City Hall towards the end of my walk this week and the National Museum of Wales, I have completed my circuit of the rectangle of classical, brutalist and functional architecture that makes up this cultural and educational sector at the approach to the city centre.
Completing the walk in the museum itself and the Artes Mundi exhibition (already visited three times), I can only recommend a visit to the show before it ends on 26th February.
My walk this week takes a tour around the classical and concrete block of cultural, educational and municipal buildings in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. Amgueddfa in Welsh or museum in English, this first image shows a segment of the display block alongside the National Museum of Wales which currently shows the banner for the Arts Mundi 7 exhibition. This is a biannual international art exhibition which we have seen since it started 14 years ago. The exhibition has one of the largest prizes in the art world (£40,000).
Started in Cardiff, it is a an event of which Wales can be justly proud. It ends in cardiff on 26th February and I will be trying to get to see it for a fourth time before that. John Akomfrah is the justifiable winner on this occasion but the whole exhibition, while being largely video based, is well worth giving the time to tour fully.
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.
How early is early? For my walk this week along Aberavon seafront in south Wales, it seemed more like nigh time when I started out – it was certainly dark when I left the house but it wasn’t very early, about 7.45. That is perhaps to be expected at this time of year and I guess the murky weather I met with on arrival at the seafront could also be considered normal in this part of the world.
I wasn’t the only one about though, despite the dark sea fret covering the beach.
Seafret and Bird
My walk this week at Port Eynon with the Taste of Gower walkers revealed some smiling faces . . . or perhaps I should say stony faces!
Looking directly into the light on from the beach at Port Eynon produced a smile on my own face. We are told not to face into the sun when taking photos because the light will be behind the subject and so they will appear as a silhouette. But if the subject is the light itself and the effect of being dazzled by it, then go for it (not directly at the the sun of course – that can be dangerous).