Tag Archives: StillWalk

Three Cliffs Bay – Step 4, Pennard Castle

Posted on by

Visit the StillWalks website for videos and more

It was a hot and bright day when I went to Three Cliffs Bay and Pennard Castle on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales and this can sometimes pose problems for the photographer. I hope I have managed to deal with the issues of light and shade reasonable effectively in these shots. There was some adjustment needed in Lightroom, particularly in the last shot, but not too much.

A sense of scale – These photos are, more than anything else, an attempt to describe the different scales of the surroundings and features. Don’t miss the figure in the first image, which, more than anything else, proves the actual size of the castle ruins.

The three other shots give a good sense of how difficult the castle would have been to attack at least from the seaward side but for me,  I like the framing of the different elements of the landscape with the castle windows and entrance.

Pennard Castle Pennard Castle Pennard Castle Three Cliffs Bay

All photos are available for sale on the StillWalks Photography website.

Three Cliffs Bay – Step 2, People and Beach

Posted on by

Visit the StillWalks website for videos and more

Part two of this series of images from Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.

It was a hot and bright day and there were various activities going in different parts of the bay. I particularly like the middle one of these three photos because it seems to me to show the blinding heat of the day so clearly. Virtually the only way to differentiate the sea from the sky is the change in texture.

It is similar in the third shot but I was more intent on bringing in the foreground and the subsequent pattern layers in the scene.

All photos are available for sale on the StillWalks Photography website.

Three Cliffs Bay Three Cliffs Bay Three Cliffs Bay

A Countryside Connections Walk

Posted on by

Visit the StillWalks website for videos and more

Swansea Countryside Connections Team, through which StillWalks ran the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project, put on a number of events throughout the year for those living in eligible rural wards in Swansea. It was one of their dawn chorus walks where I first met Helen Grey and it was she, along with Tim Orrell, who was leading the Nature Detective Walk along the Gower Way from Felindre to Lower Lliw Reservoir last Wednesday evening. See the photos below.

As this was the route taken by the Sights and Sounds project on the production day for the Felindre Families group, I thought it would be good to go along – and indeed it was! I discovered what the funny lumps and bumps are in the first field we crossed. We found a very old ash tree with branches twisting and twining round each other, reflecting its age. We saw Deadly Nightshade amongst other plants and flowers, a badger set, mole holes, young Hazelnuts, whin, thistles, ducks, etc., etc.

“Helen, you will have to remind me of that last little yellow flower I asked you about. I cannot remember it it now!”

Click here (Countryside Connections Events) to see what other Countryside Connections events are coming up.

French Evening Walk – The StillWalks Video

Posted on by

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.

Completing the Circuit

Posted on by

Please visit the StillWalks website

Returning to the start of my recce for a StillWalks Sights and Sounds Tag Along Walk (see previous posts) brought me back to Parc-Le-Breos House via their pony trekking centre.

It sure is set in a beautiful part of the country!

Click on the photos to enlarge. More are available on the StillWalks Photography website at PhotoShelter.

Parc-Le-Breos Horses

Parc-Le-Breos Horses

Parc-Le-Breos House

Parc-Le-Breos House

Parc-Le-Breos Grounds

Parc-Le-Breos Grounds

Parc-Le-Breos

Parc-Le-Breos hanging basket and arch way

Along the Walk – Three Cliffs Bay

Posted on by

Please visit the StillWalks website

In planning the first StillWalks Sights and Sounds Tag Along Walk (see yesterday’s post), I did not go right down to Three Cliffs Bay. This is certainly an option for a Tag Along Walk but when I was there, the sun was way too hot and so I stopped at an excellent viewing point just off the footpath above the bay.

It is a fantastic place and must be popular at the height of the season but I don’t think any of the Gower beaches ever get really crowded.

Dates and times – If anyone is interested in doing one of the Tag Along Walks, I suggest you keep an eye on the StillWalks website for dates and times. These should be announced next week and numbers are restricted. If you are interested, please contact StillWalks so that we can contact you as and when walks are being organised and places become available.

Click on the photos to enlarge. More are available on the StillWalks Photography website at PhotoShelter (some day I will get the the two sites integrated).

Three Cliffs Bay, Gower

Three Cliffs Bay, Gower

Pennard Castle, Gower

Pennard Castle, Gower

Stepping stones at Three Cliffs Bay, Gower

Contemplating Crossing, Three Cliffs Bay, Gower

When is a video not a video?

Posted on by

When it’s a DVD! It seems some people have been confused as to what they will get if they click the buy now button to get a StillWalks video. The lesson to me – never make assumptions!

If you buy a video or videos on StillWalks, you will be sent a link to allow you to download and play those videos on your computer or mobile device.

You will only receive a DVD (containing eight StillWalk videos) if you click to buy one of the DVD collections.

The sample video below is “City Walk” and takes place on Boxing Day in Belfast in Northern Ireland. Click the Buy Now button to go direct to the list of StillWalks in Winter and select it and/or any others you would like. Don’t forget to also select the size you would like for each StillWalks video.

Buy Now

A frosty walk through Belfast, Northern Ireland on Boxing Day. This is a low resolution 2:30 minute sample of this StillWalks video. The full video is 5:38 minutes and is best viewed in high definition (HD).

Buy Now

Buy now to download and enjoy full length and high quality. Please complete the form on the Buy Now page to buy this video and other Winter StillWalks. Please also read the Purchases notice below the form.

A New Dawn

Posted on by

I am going to ask you a favour but first, for the sake of the title of this post I am including an image of the dawn I watched on Saturday morning at the start of a StillWalks production day – I might even call the finished video “Dawn Walk”.

The favour? Please buy a StillWalk video. It will only cost you a couple of pounds / dollars / Euros and I need to test the system and get some feedback.

I have changed all the StillWalks on this website to low resolution, sample length videos and added a “Buy now” facility to enable purchase of the full length, high definition versions. Visit the Walks pages and follow the simple instructions to buy now.

Why do it like this? Last year I had an unpleasant and very costly experience with the original StillWalks automated shop facility. This way, I have complete control of it – at least until I have arranged for a new automated shop, which will only happen if I sell some videos in the first place.

Other things have changed on the website too. Please take a look around and see what you think. The design is the same but some of the content has changed.

Thanks very much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy what you see (and hear).

Troserch Dawn

Troserch Dawn