A Pair of Ponies

I regularly walk down on the marshes by the River Loughor near my home but do not often meet others doing so. The path is well worn, so there must be more people using it than I meet there.

Earlier this year the route of the footpath had to be changed slightly to take it a little further back from the river bank. The evidence of erosion can be seen in the photos of fences in yesterday’s post. The new route runs through a field or two near the old St Teilo’s Churchyard and the fields are normally empty of animals. Sometimes there are sheep there but on this occasion there were two new occupants. They seemed friendly and pleased to see me.

I just have one question about the piebald one – could he be described as dappled on this occasion? 😉

Ponies 3

Ponies 1

Ponies 2

Ponies 4

Ponies 5

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Early Morning Sounds

I am currently working on the photography and sound from a production day in mid Summer at Troserch Woodland, Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

The unique field recording of the walk is absolutely essential if a sense of the location is to be conveyed. This sound clip near the start of the walk has a time stamp of 4:43 on the morning of 20th July and whilst the the images remind me of what the sky looked like and that there was a horse in the field, the recorded sounds take me (and you too, I hope) straight to the time and place and give me so much more information.

Sunrise at Troserch

Sunrise at Troserch

Good Morning!

Good Morning, you’re up early!

Signs, scenery and a pony in the woods

This was the view I had from Three Crosses Community Centre whilst waiting for the rest of the dragonfly hunting group I was with last week. It was very pleasant sitting in the sun with a light breeze to cool me.

Looking across the Gower Peninsula, it struck me that there were a lot of signposts. However, they did not spoil the view but rather created an interesting mix of patterns and structures through which I could see the natural beauty of the landscape.

We accept or learn to accept a lot of things in our need for order in society and the power we want to run our lives – like the millions of electricity pylons and increasing number of wind mills, sky scraper skylines and network of roads to name but a few of the interruptions to our views. We want what they bring and they do not necessarily spoil the view – it is more a matter of how you think about them.

Having said that, there should be balance in everything and we cannot afford to lose much more of our natural habitat – after all, the horses need their shade!

Signs and Scenery

Signs and Scenery Pony in the Woods

Pony in the Woods

Supreme Champions

Last Sunday was the Clydach Riding Club Annual Show and StillWalks Photography was covering all the ridden and in hand activity in rings 1 – 4 (not the jumping in ring 5).

I may be responsible for all the photography done by StillWalks but on this occasion I was not the only photographer. Hannah Duncan and James Rees were invaluable helpers and did the photography for rings 2 and 3. All the images can be seen here on the StillWalks Photography website.

Below are the two Supreme Champions from the day which also included the awarding of the Angarad Rees Memorial Trophy for the best exhibit in the show.

Supreme Champion - Junior

Supreme Champion – Junior

Supreme Champions - Senior

Supreme Champions – Senior

Knocking Things Into Shape

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Indy, it seems to me, is a patient horse! I understand there were five horses being re-shod  at Cimla Equestrian Centre last Saturday. I wonder if they were all as accommodating as Indy?

I spent about ten years taking my eldest daughter to riding lessons at Cimla and although I don’t ride, I surprised myself by enjoying being around the horses. This is quite useful now that I am doing equestrian photography.

Hot Shoe – Farrier Style

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I was doing some equestrian photography training at the weekend and for the purpose arranged to use a group lesson at Cimla Equestrian Centre in the hills above Neath.

I can’t show the photography the students did but I managed to get some of my own shots up in the stable yard at the end of the session and this is a quick taster of what I found – a gallery will go up tomorrow.

Farrier Fire

Fire, if not brimstone!

Cimla Landscape

Cimla Landscape

The Tail End

I usually take some extra shots when I am doing equestrian photography and last weekend I was looking at the opposite end to what I would normally.

More equestrian photography can be seen on the StillWalks Photography website.

light horse tail

light horse tail Dark horse tail Horse tail

Riding in the Rain

And the rain came down! What more can I say. My equestrian photography at the weekend was shortened by the weather. The morning Dressage show was cancelled but they were able to go ahead with the jumping in the afternoon. Forunately it wasn’t like this for more than a few minutes but during that time, everyone got soaked!

Riding in the Rain

Riding in the Rain

Under Wraps

Under Wraps