Stripes of water and sand on the beach and stripes of cloud in the sky at Oxwich Bay (see below).
On my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers at Oxwich Bay, the walkers ahead of me stretch across the beach and as the sun comes round I find that using my zoom lens (a Canon 70-300 mm 1:4 – 5.6 IS USM for those of you who are interested) brings out the contrast of light and dark. This both emphasises the striped patterns on the beach and the shade of Oxwich point in the background.
During this Taste of Gower walk at Oxwich I had conversations with a couple of people about photography and the “rule” of not taking photographs into the sun or keeping the light behind you. It’s not a bad rule in general and particularly useful for holiday snapshots. Apart from any tricks of the trade which can be used when you need to shoot into the light, deliberately taking a shot against the light can give some very interesting results and indeed, if you want silhouettes this is the way to get them.
Crossing Oxwich Marsh towards the footbridge, the Taste of Gower walkers enjoy the sunshine and their company while I look on and enjoy the textures of the grasses and the colour of their costumes.
On this walk I was following the wind and focused more on that than anything else. The soundscape below along with the images will hopefully help you to accompany me on this walk during that day of Storm Doris.
I ended the documentation of the walk at the weir on the Afon Dulais river where the roar of water collected by the river overnight overwhelmed any amount of noise the wind was making.
Descending on my walk this week into the base of the valley, proof of other (helpful) walkers is evident from the arrangement of stepping stones through an expansive puddle. From here I climbed up a steep hillside track to arrive on the opposite side of the valley and a return to the double rows of electricity pylons.
Rising slightly higher on my third walk up above the valley I began to get better views across the estuary. As this was the day of Storm Doris (Doris Day!), the wind was also rising or at least it sounded like it was.
The trees clustered round the phone mast on the top of Goppa hill are mostly coniferous and I have noted in the past that a different sound is created by the wind blowing through these rather than deciduous, broad leaved trees.
My walk this week is the third of my walks on consecutive days in my local valley, Cwm Dulais. Where the previous day was misty, this walk was windy – in fact I did this walk on the day of Storm Doris. We did not have the strength of wind that some other parts of the country received but it was notable all the same.
The most interesting aspect of the walk was the sound and how it changed at different stages of the walk – see (listen) below.
Nearing the end of my walk this week, the second of my walks up Cwm Dulais on consecutive days, I am reminded how different this walk was to the one on the previous day (posted last week). I did not do any field recording on this occasion and so the soundscape below does not reflect the misty atmosphere. However, I didn’t want to leave without an aural experience so I have included an edit of another recent walk in the same place but on a much brighter day.
So remember, if you are listening to the sound file at the same time as viewing the images, the two environmental atmospheres are quite different.