Tree Festival and Evening Sounds

Posted on 17/08/201217/08/2012 by Alastair

This photo reminds me that StillWalks is going to be at the Tree Festival in the Botanic Garden of Wales this weekend, but actually . . .

The park at Richelieu

. . . it’s from a small selection of images about ceilings (!) I arranged from a recent trip to France. Here a couple more of the natural ones and a sound clip to prove my mother wrong about there being no sounds at night !?!

French Evening Sky

Evening Sky over Faye la Vineuse

And here are the real (if not natural) ceilings from the Chateau d’Oiron, an amazing place full of contemporary art and crazy ceilings. These pics were taken on my iPhone.

Chateau d”Oiron

Hoofing It – A blog entry on the hoof

Posted on 14/08/201214/08/2012 by Alastair

At the weekend I was busy again, this time with StillWalks Equestrian. Earlier this year I was asked if I would be interested in doing the photography for Clydach Riding Club and, what with nothing better to do at the weekends (ha, ha), I ventured on down to their new show field at Ynystawe.

I don’t have the best camera for this kind of work as the photography I do for StillWalks does not involve that many fast moving objects. However, I manage well enough and enjoy watching the events. Having watched my daughter riding for many years, it is very useful to have an understanding of what is going on. This also allowed me to appreciate the equestrian Olympic events that much more than I have in the past.

Here are some alternative shots from the weekend. The event photos can be seen here.

Keeping in the Cool

Ghost Forest

Posted on 11/08/201211/08/2012 by Alastair

StillWalks will be present at the NBGW (National Botanic Garden of Wales) next weekend, 18 – 19 August, for the tree festival which features the Ghost Forest. We will be focusing our collection of StillWalks on woodland walks such as the Garden of Wales Woodland Walk and Arboretum Walk at Gelli Aur as well as many others from the collection.

. . . and here’s some from inside the Great Glasshouse.

Under Abertawe Bridges

Posted on 21/07/201221/07/2012 by Alastair

Adverse Weather Conditions led a scheduled day of equestrian photography to be cancelled at short notice. I didn’t check the website for updates before hand and so ended up down at the show field anyway. The day was dry but the previous week had been very wet. So I took the opportunity to go for a walk along a section of the River Tawe and quickly found myself under a bridge!

Under Bridges – My interest and curiosity about the underside of bridges goes back a long way now. About 14 years ago I was taking photographs of the underside of the second Severn crossing, a striking suspension bridge of the Severn Estuary between Wales and England. It was all part of my research towards designing and weaving a major tapestry commissioned for Caldicot Library in Monmouthshire.

Secret Places – Since then, I have looked at the underside of many other bridges and find them to be quite secret places, even when they are busy with people, it is the side away from public view.

These photos were all taken on my iPhone 4s.

Road and Rail Bridges

Under the Road Bridge

Working on the Rail Bridge

Rail Bridge Structure

The DVLA, Swansea

Another Road Bridge

Underside

Beautiful Brecon Beacons

Posted on 07/07/201207/07/2012 by Alastair

Yr Allt, Fan Nedd and Fan Gyhirych are all on a walk I have done in the Brecon Beacons frequently in the past. That past is a long time ago now though and so when I took a day up there recently with my friend Mark, it seemed even better than my memory allowed.

Walking for pleasure was the main reasoning behind the trip but photos and sounds clips taken on the day can be considered a recce for a StillWalks production day later in the Summer.

Skylark – I actually managed to get a half decent photo of one of the many Skylarks up there and some of the sights and sounds from the day can be listened to and seen below. To view more of the photos, visit Flickr. If you can’t see the sound clips, click here to go to the blog.

Shadows on Yr Allt

Pen y Fan in the distance

On the side of Fan Nedd

Old Fencing

Bog Cotton

Maen Llia standing stone

Urban Birds and Babies

Posted on 16/06/201216/06/2012 by Alastair

I got these shots the other day during a garden bird count for the RSPB. I’m just sorry I didn’t get a shot of the funniest looking young Blackbird we have frequenting our garden just now with its fluffy feathers stuck out all over the place.

Mother and Baby 1

Mother and Baby 2

Mother and Baby 3

I was also reminding people this week about StillWalks being about the urban as well as the natural environment or countryside. The photos below are from the Abertawe Walk along the River Tawe going into the SA1 area of Swansea.

from Abertawe Walk

Therapy at its Best in Scotland

Posted on 14/04/201214/04/2012 by Alastair

Featured StillWalks – Coastal Walk Spring

For me, this is therapy at its best! Recently we had some unexpectedly good weather for the time of year and it reminded me of slightly later in the Spring last year when this StillWalk was produced.

Downloads – Coastal Walk Spring is from the South West coast of Scotland. The sample version on the StillWalks website is only 1.5 minutes of the full 6.5 but gives a good taste of a walk well worth downloading. There are some fascinating temporary sculptures on the stony beach. They can also be found in Coastal Walk Evening where they look like sentinels watching the tide.

FREE StillWalks – If you have not already signed up for FREE to StillWalks, you will be able to download a walk of your choice FREE when you do.

Here are some of the images from the full length walk – enjoy 🙂

Coastal Walk Spring

The Horses have It

Posted on 07/04/201207/04/2012 by Alastair

StillWalks-Equestrian is a new website and service born from the interest taken in my photography for the production of StillWalks.

Ready and Waiting

Relaxing virtual walks for horses? – No 🙂 Maybe there will be some StillWalks made for horse riders in the future but they might require me to take along step ladders on production day in order to get the same sort of view point as the riders. In fact, many existing StillWalks routes have had evidence of horses along the way.

In Action

The sound of the show – One of the aspects of StillWalks I enjoy the most is sound recording. As yet, I have only done this at one show and I have not published the StillWalk produced. I look forward to the next opportunity as the sounds at a horse event are so distinctive. Here is a clip from the unpublished Bont Show Walk – remember, you’ll need to go to the blog to see (and hear) this clip.

Examples of photography for StillWalks-Equestrian can be seen on the website at www.equestrian.stillwalks.com with all images being available for sale at www.photoboxgallery.com/stillwalks-equestrian

Taking Off