The full project exhibition for the StillWalks project “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” is now set up in the Mechanics Institute, Pontarddulais, and we are just waiting for the official opening on Wednesday 3rd July.
In the meantime, as well as the carnival photographs I took yesterday, I have been getting one or two extra shots including these from the exhibition room on the top floor.
Today is Carnival Day in Hendy and Pontarddulais and I am going to try and get some photos and recording of the event.
Everyone not directly involved comes out to watch the parade go past and follow it up to Coedbach Park to enjoy the atmosphere, fancy dress and thematic floats. Come rain or shine, people support the event but it is always better if it is dry and sunny.
Project Exhibition – Some of the children of Pontarddulais Primary School took part in a StillWalks project last Autumn and there is now a full project exhibition in Pontarddulais Mechanic’s Institute (top floor) which can be seen by anyone who cares to climb the stairs or take the lift.
The exhibition will be open throughout Carnival Day and is open Tuesday to Sunday 10 – 5.00 until 10th July.
The project involved the children doing the photography and sound recording to produce a bespoke StillWalk video of a walk through the woods in Coedbach Park. Production Day was a bit wet!
These are just a couple of the photos the children took. The project videos can be seen here.
I may say this quite often, but it never ceases to amaze me how every time I visit a place, in this case the marshes, it is different.
The other evening when I went down there through the park, I was stunned by the sun setting over the river. Though we often see beautiful sunsets, they never seem to lack impact.
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.
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.
I have been told that the thing to do is to climb Kilvey Hill at the end of the day when the sun is going down and enjoy the spectacle not only of the sunset but of Swansea gradually lighting up.
We were already half way down the hill when this was said so I will have to wait a little longer for this experience – I just need to make sure it doesn’t take me another 30 years! (see Friday’s post – Ticking the List).
In these photos you can see Mumbles Lighthouse in the background, Swansea just beginning to light up and the Meridian Tower with the bay behind. The full collection can be seen (and bought) on the StillWalks Photography website.
Walking down Kilvey Hill – Mumbles in the distance
Mumbles in the Background
The Lights are Coming On
Meridian Tower
These photos are more about the light than they are about Swansea, except that they were taken from the top of Kilvey Hill, an urban woodland that is surrounded by the city.
It was a beautiful evening when I took these pictures but even then the clouds were heralding yet another a change in the weather. Constant change may be something we have to accept in the weather these days, but fortunately there can be as much beauty in those changes as in the pleasure we feel in the sunshine – when we get it.
There are many more beautiful images to be seen from Kilvey Hill on the StillWalks Photography website.
Kilvey Hill is a large (3 square kilometres) urban woodland in Swansea, South Wales. The hill is surrounded on all sides by housing, industry and businesses and its top is, of course, a perfect site for TV transmitters, mobile phone masts, etc.
It is also a great place for wildlife and plants like bog cotton and blueberries and I understand there are hares to be seen if you are patient enough to wait for them.
There are fantastic views in all directions and here, today, is a taster. I will be putting more up later in the week or you can visit the StillWalks Photography website to view them all now.
