600 Miles and a Short Walk

Posted on 20/01/201420/01/2014 by Alastair

This week’s featured StillWalks video is from a place approximately 600 miles from where I live. So far, this winter has been very mild and wet in South West Wales. I imagine the season in Forres, North East Scotland, to have been more like that seen in the video.

The video features an area of woodland close to where my sister lives and the production for it was done on the only occasion I have been there (to date). I flew up with my eldest daughter for the funeral of Jane’s husband, Philip, who had had cancer. It was a sad occasion but I was pleased to be able to go and to see the area and wanted to take the opportunity to record something of it.

The video includes a shot of a Tree Creeper. It’s not a great shot but it was the only time I have actually seen the bird even though I know they are around in our own local woods.

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Winter Woodland Walk” which features woods in Forres, North East Scotland. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Less is More

Posted on 25/11/201325/11/2013 by Alastair

I’m back, but with fewer photos and fewer posts – that is my intention anyway!

About a year ago I started posting more frequently because I like doing it and I wanted to show what was going on with StillWalks other than what was being done for video production. I also wanted to present sets or series of photos because that is the way the StillWalks videos work.

However, for the time being, I will be posting fewer images and less often. Different images and sound clips may also be spread across other social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr and SoundCloud.

I will also continue to feature individual StillWalks videos from time to time. The current featured video will be the last for Autumn this year and can be seen at the end of this post. Just click the image to play the video.

One of the first frosts in our garden

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Abertawe Walk” which is along the cycle path alongside the River Tawe going into Swansea, South Wales. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Footpath Through the Woods – The Changing Season

Posted on 02/11/201302/11/2013 by Alastair

The end of my walk through Cwm Green Woods brought me back to the clearing and car park where I heard so many pheasants earlier in the morning.

I started this week’s posts writing about the rolling out of Autumn across different areas. The leaves on the ground in the last photo of this post show the difference of change between one kind of tree and another, and the conditions of their immediate surroundings. Even within quite a small area, there can be significant difference.

The trees shown at the start of this series were just beginning to change colour whilst these ones, just a few hundred yards away, are well on their way through the season.

You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Woodland Walk” which is from Penllergaer Woods near Swansea, South wales. Click the image below to watch the video.

The Grain of Woodland Details

Posted on 01/11/201301/11/2013 by Alastair

Starting with a close up, this first photograph is a very close crop of the second shot. I particularly liked the grain effect of the exposure with a very high ISO. It seemed to suit the atmosphere of the dark place in those ancient woods by Cwm Green on the Gower Peninsula.

Most of my photography in these woods needed a high ISO as much of this environment was quite dark. Whilst I have both a monopod and a tripod, when carrying the field recorder and mic as well as kit bag and two cameras, it is just not practical to take a tripod as well and on this occasion I had not included the monopod.

However, as I say above, I think the graininess of some of the shots I took are very appropriate for the subject matter and I would be happy, as with this first shot, to emphasise it.

Interesting Objects in the Woods

Posted on 30/10/201330/10/2013 by Alastair

The sound of many pheasants in yesterday’s post was not accidental. There are many pheasants on the Gower Peninsula, but I had not seen or heard such a concentrated number of them before.

When I went into the woods at Cwm Green, I discovered various objects that seemed to have a specific purpose that appeared to relate to the rearing of pheasants, presumably for the shooting season. Not being an expert on these matters, I was only guessing at their use but the fact that there was an enclosure protected by an electric fence suggested something along these lines. In fact, I wasn’t sure that it was still in use as it looked as though it had not been tended for some time but I wasn’t going to touch the fence to find out.

What I liked was the way the other objects around the area were clearly settling nicely into their natural home and becoming a part of the woodland undergrowth. How ever much we think we can influence or control nature, in the long term, we are only a danger to ourselves if we do not respect the natural environment.

The Sounds of Cwmdonkin Park

Posted on 24/10/201324/10/2013 by Alastair

There are a number of different features to Cwmdonkin Park in Swansea and if it was anything like it is now in Dylan Thomas’ time, then it is hardly surprising that he liked the place.

All the photos I have posted this week from my recce walk of the park have been take on my iPhone and I look forward to returning with my full StillWalks production kit. I had the kit in the car when I was there but neither had the time nor the inclination to go and get it!

Noise pollution – Too much of my time in the park was spent with the aural backdrop of somebody from the parks department using a leaf blower! I cannot think of a more irritating source of noise pollution.

There are two sound clips here, tell me which you prefer.

These and two other clips can also be listened to on SoundCloud.

You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Autumn Lakeside Walk” from Gnoll Park, Neath, South Wales. Click the image below to watch the video.

Troserch Woodland Walk (Part 1)

Posted on 26/09/201326/09/2013 by Alastair

At last, here is the StillWalks video I have been working on – a little reminder of the recent Summer. Sometimes I find that a walk can be split into two separate videos and that is the case on this occasion. This first part goes through the woods as the title suggests. The second one will have a different title and will be alongside the Morlais river which flows from the woodland down towards Llangennech and the Loughor Estuary.

Click the image to play the video.

Update – this video is now sample size and length only. Please see the post about the Donate button for further information.

Selected still photos from this video are now available on the StillWalks Photography website.

Flowing Through the Woods

Posted on 24/09/201324/09/2013 by Alastair

Tag Archives: woodland