My short walk this week at Blaenige, near Cynwyl Elfed in Carmarthenshire was a mixture of snow, sunshine, wind and a brief spot of rain – in other words, typical for this part of the world. I had to take it carefully down the steep track but on the way I found some great views over the landscape as well as some attractive details in my closer surroundings.
My city walk was taken through the day but this photo looks across the River Lagan in Belfast later that same evening. The horizontal line of lights in the dark are christmas lights running along the crane featured near the start of the walk.
This was a Winter city walk taken on Boxing day a few years ago. There is only frost on the riverside footpath at the walk and the bare branches of trees by the crane to prove the season. However, a couple of days later the river was frozen over and covered in snow, but we had left to return to mainland Britain by that time!
Click the sound clip play button below and then the first thumbnail image to view the walk images in sequence.
City Ambience
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.
Walking up the footpath alongside the Lagan in Belfast, the river again attempts to produce its own art in the form of sculpture in the water. The working material may be an old trolley but with the reflection on the water’s surface, I couldn’t help thinking of it as a piece of art in keeping with the “bottle top” or the “graffiti” to be seen by the river bank.
Moving on with my city walk in Belfast I have returned to the River Lagan. There is no frost here as there was at the start of my walk higher up the river but that doesn’t mean the river is any less attractive or interesting.
The Lagan creates its own art in the reflected patterns of railings distorted by ripples or the mirror effect on twigs projecting out of the still water.
Walking around Belfast revealed many fascinating structures in the architecture. The camera can be a very useful tool when it comes to focusing on aspects of buildings that create fascinating patterns when isolated from their surroundings. The patterns are there anyway but it is not always easy to pick them out amongst the complexity of their surroundings. Sometimes, of course, it is a combination of structures seen from a particular angle that does the trick.
City Sounds 2
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.
Approaching Belfast city centre on this Boxing Day walk in 2011 the architecture becomes abstract when superimposed against the big ferris wheel situated beside City Hall. Seen behind one of the columned towers of the building, the scene takes on a Christmassy or religious appearance – ironic considering the role that religion still plays in Northern Ireland politics. So are the punters wheeling while the politicians are dealing?
This shot can also be seen in black and white on Monochrome Madness MM 2-41 at Leanne Cole Photography.
My walk around Belfast started with the River Lagan but then headed towards the city centre. It was Boxing Day and the streets were relatively quiet. The range of architectural design, colours and patterns may be what you might expect in any city, but this is Belfast, the place where I grew up and still love.
This walk was taken a few years ago and I have not been there since. These photos are therefore important to me and serve my memory very favourably.
My walk this week moves from a suburban location (see the last two weeks posts) to the inner city location of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The first two images below may not look like the inner city but you don’t have to walk far up the river Lagan to reach this point on its route into Belfast. Perhaps the construction crane in the third image comes closer to proving the city location.
