The Sound of Snow – “Forest Walk – Winter”

Posted on 18/09/201318/09/2013 by Alastair

This last post on my StillWalks video from a previous winter features a sound that we don’t often hear in the part of South Wales where I live. The sound of footsteps in deep, dry snow is quite different to that which is made by footsteps in wet snow which is slightly more common here.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that old adage about the Inuits having fifty words for snow but I do know that whatever the state of the snow under your feet, the sound your footsteps make in it will be different, and I suspect this range extends at least as far as fifty!

Click the image below to play the video.

from “Forest Walk – Winter” – Coming Out of the Woods

Posted on 17/09/201317/09/2013 by Alastair

from “Forest Walk – Winter”

Posted on 16/09/201316/09/2013 by Alastair

More images from the StillWalks video “Forest Walk – Winter” which is from the forest at Fforest, carmarthenshire, South Wales.

Seasonal Shift

Posted on 15/09/201315/09/2013 by Alastair

I know I am skipping a season by posting these photos now, but they are from a completed StillWalk of the same forest in Fforest, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is a prompt to myself to produce a new video of the same place this Autumn.

Unlike the Fforest walk I am producing from recordings and photography on my iPhone (see this past week’s posts), “Forest Walk – Winter” is a StillWalks video properly produced albeit with my Edirol RO9 recorder rather than the Fostex FR-2LE and the RODE NTG3 Shotgun mic I normally use these days.

A Well Kept Secret

Posted on 11/06/201311/06/2013 by Alastair

Not seeing the wood(s) for the trees is another expression that would perhaps describe what I felt about our discovery of a nearby woodland at the weekend.

We have lived here almost 30 years and there are many beautiful places we have seen both near and far in Wales and the UK but still we find that some of the most stunning beauty is virtually on our doorstep. It felt like it had been a very well kept secret so I am not going to reveal its name or location, but I think it is definitely going to be the subject of a new StillWalk the moment I get the opportunity.

Most StillWalks videos have a location button on the video page – but not all! Here, anyway, is a bit of iPhonography of the place.

The Tonal Textures of Trees

Posted on 26/04/201326/04/2013 by Alastair

Last Sunday morning it was wet but not enough to stop me going for a walk through the woods. It is a mixed, managed wood with the deciduous trees being higher up on the hill and the coniferous lining the main footpath.

I took the high path for my walk and whilst the soft ground underfoot was in keeping with the soft texture of the sounds around me, one of the most enjoyable (apart from the birds) was the changing sound of the wind as I moved from the deciduous area to the coniferous. You may think it is quite subtle or that it is just the wind rising, but in fact it is the change to the coniferous foliage that has caused the change in the sound. This takes place around the 3:44 mark in what is a 5+ minute recording.

Look at the photos and then play the sound clip and close your eyes to be taken there! Enjoy 🙂