York

And here’s one I did earlier! This week’s photos are from a visit to York in the North East of England a year ago. The photos were taken as part of a recce for a possible StillWalk on a subsequent visit.

The weather was beautiful in February but when I returned in June, things were different with the rain falling as it does in Britain, seemingly interminably, and the River Ouse flooded!

It’s a good thing all photos and sound clips are time stamped because although I carried out an initial post-production review soon after my return home last June, I have only recently been able to continue with this process. It’s going to be a couple of weeks before this new StillWalk will be available but in the meantime I’ll be putting these recce photos on the blog – the starting point was Rowntree Park.

Rowntree Park

Rowntree Park

Rowntree Park

Rowntree Park

Graveyard Conundrums

The evidence would suggest that one of these headstones has been there longer than the other, but then again, maybe its just the result of the prevailing wind direction – or perhaps one had softer edges in life as well!

Twin Headstones

Twin Headstones (from the Old Churchyard Walk)

The writing on the stone

The writing on the stone

Warmer Days

These photos prove the time of year down on the marshes for the Old Churchyard Walk on the Loughor Estuary. The sheep scene looks as though it could be from ancient times!

Water droplets

Water Droplets

lazing around

Lazing Around

Tufting and Textures

I used to use tufting in my tapestry weaving – the long tufts of wool would hang down over the surface of the weaving. Sometimes I would wrap them with bright, lustrous cotton.

The textures I have used in my more recent weaving are rather different! Barbed wire is often the main textural feature of my weaving and although the reason for using it lies in the theme of “conflict”, we see it in many places around us.

The photos I take for StillWalks are often informed by my interest in texture. The images below illustrate different kinds of tuft and barb to those I have used in my tapestries.

You can see my tapestries at Design Fibre ICT and the StillWalk these images are from in the Old Churchyard Walk.

Tufted

Tufted

wool and barbs

Wool and Barbs

Down on the Marshes

I managed to get a short walk out at lunchtime on Friday – down to our local marshes. I hadn’t been there for a little while and was reminded of the StillWalks I have produced such as the Old Churchyard Walk (on the Summer Walks page). Despite the sound of traffic in the background, it still one of my favourite local walks.

This week I am going to focus on some of the images from that video but start with the couple of shots I took on my iPhone yesterday.

Loughor River

Loughor River

marshes

Looking and Listening . . .

. . . seeing and hearing, that’s what StillWalks is all about.

As I walked through the woods on Sunday on my way towards Upper Lliw Reservoir, it was quite clear that the birds were perfectly happy with the rain. Although they were hard to spot, they were very easy to hear.

Can anybody identify the birds or the fungi?

tree growths

Tree Growths

Tree Growth

Tree Growth

A Walk in the Rain

We’ve had everything at Lliw Reservoir now except the sun – hopefully I will be able to get there if it ever appears again. In the meantime, following the snow and the mist, this week’s photos are from a walk up there in the rain. More pics to come through the week.

Lower Lliw Reservoir

Rain on the Water

Raindrops

Raindrops

ducks

At least the duck seem to like it

 

 

 

Looking back through the mist

Looking back at the recce walk we did at Lower Lliw Reservoir for the StillWalks “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, when the weather made us hesitate about going ahead the next day, the theme of mixed and unpredictable conditions stayed with us for the rest of the work.

On the pre-production recce, we had thick snow . . . which was gone the next day. The following week the weather looked promising with a beautiful sunny Saturday . . . only to be followed on Sunday by what you see below. Very atmospheric but not quite in keeping with the rest of production.

Mist over Lower Lliw Reservoir

Mist over Lower Lliw Reservoir

Mist

Mist over the dam

Mist

On the edge

Mist

Reflecting the gloom

Drips in the Mist

Drips in the Mist

Mist over Lliw Valley

Mist over Lliw Valley