Early Morning Sounds

Posted on 30/08/201330/08/2013 by Alastair

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

Good Morning, you’re up early!

Repeat Viewing – A French Evening Walk

Posted on 04/08/201304/08/2013 by Alastair

Here it is again – the French Evening Walk video from yesterday’s post. I really like it and so I want to show it to you again and maybe, if you have already enjoyed it, you will watch and listen and enjoy it again.

Selected images from the shoot are available on the StillWalks Photography site at PhotoShelter.

Visit the StillWalks website for more videos

French Evening Walk – The StillWalks Video

Posted on 03/08/201303/08/2013 by Alastair

Finally, here is the French Evening Walk StillWalks video I previewed on this blog a few weeks ago. It’s only taken a year to finish it off but I am pleased with the results. I hope you enjoy it.

Take the opportunity to watch and listen to it while you can because this 480p video is full length, but only for a while. The StillWalks videos on the website are now all sample length low resolution versions which are available to buy in a range of formats.

The walk takes place in the Indre et Loire region of France – specifically along the tiny road from the medieval village of Faye La Vineuse to St Christophe. It is a beautiful and peaceful part of the French countryside which lies a few miles south of Richelieu, the town designed and built by Cardinal Richelieu (think the Three Musketeers).

If you are seeing this in an email, click the image below to go to the blog and play the video.

Visit the StillWalks website for more videos

Selected images from the shoot are available on the StillWalks Photography site.

Walking Through the Gates

Posted on 20/07/201320/07/2013 by Alastair

A recce walk through recently discovered woodland revealed a number of elements that can be very useful in the production of a StillWalk.

Gates, both the images and the sounds can, in the sequence of a StillWalk, provide a visual and aural way marker and in doing so, give a sense of progression. If the gates are of different design or in different states of repair, this too can be recognised as a way marker if the walk is circular, sending a message to the viewer that they are on the return journey.

There were several gates along the River Morlais leading into Troserch Woods. All were either of different design, at different angles, more or less rusted . . .

The sounds of the gates are also unique, though this is as much because of the surrounding conditions as the type of gate – here is an example from StillWalks on SoundCloud.

Exhibition Opening and Tag Along Days

Posted on 06/07/201306/07/2013 by Alastair

The Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project exhibition opening, which took place last Wednesday, went very well – so well I forgot to get photographs! Never mind, the event was enjoyed by all who came and since then I have had a number of enquiries about the possibility of Tag Along days.

StillWalks Tag Along days would not be about production of a StillWalk®. The bespoke StillWalks produced through project work require greater input than would be practical on a tag along day.

Tag Along days would give a small group of individuals the opportunity to accompany me on a walk with their own cameras (and sound recorders) and discover some aspects of the approach to photography I take for personal use and for StillWalks production.

Field recording – there would also be the opportunity to experience environmental sounds through the high quality StillWalks field recording kit which in itself, can lead to better listening skills – this can be a revelation!

Watch the website for more information and if anyone out there is interested, please contact me.

The seats are empty here but they had been full to overflowing!

A Very Distinctive Voice

Posted on 27/06/201327/06/2013 by Alastair

This bird has a very distinctive voice but I would need my bird expert, Martin Humphreys, to identify it for me.

I thought I was getting better at bird identification from their songs but it seems there doesn’t need to be much of a gap in practice for the knowledge gained to all go out the window.

Bird in Park

A Walk Through Marsh Grass and Across a Yellow Field

Posted on 20/06/201320/06/2013 by Alastair

This post is pretty much just what it says on the tin!

Using the excellent RODE recording app for iPhone (though not their iPhone mic) I got, precisely, the sound of the wind in the marsh grass when out walking in the evening recently. I held the iPhone right in amongst the grasses which had the added advantage of muffling the sound of traffic on the motorway as well as stopping the rumble effect of the wind directly on the mic.

These field recordings on their own are not going to be for everyone but I enjoyed listening to the changing sounds of the grasses as the wind strength changed and find, as with the recording I do for StillWalks videos, that the sound does so much to help visualize the memory.