If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll know that if I'm going to go up into the Preselis it's usually on a murky day to get some moody shots but I've got to say it's pretty nice in the blazing midday sun of a summers day. I was up that way last week so decided to pop along to Carnedd Meibion Owen (the Cairns of the Sons of Owen). Legend has it that before humans were around, Pembrokeshire was inhabited by a race of giants. Owen made a basic admin error (not uncommon amongst giants) and hadn't sorted out his will to decide where his inheritance should go. His three sons got quarrelsome about it and had an almighty rumble that involved hurling boulders at each other around the Preseli Hills. It got pretty serious and they all died of their wounds at a spot just above Ty Canol woods. Owen wasn't even dead at that point but it's said he died of a broken heart sometime later. The bodies of the brothers petrified into big piles of rocks and can be seen today. So if you haven't sorted out your will, please let Owen and this post be your inspiration.
There's a nice boulder up there that was dumped there by a glacier (or maybe a giant). It's known as the nodding dog by some. Do you know any better names for it?
landscape photography
Green Scar, Solva
in Landscape
Just a one off from recent amblings. Green Scar, the small island off the coast from the harbour at Solva at sunset.
Abercastle
Some images from an evening on the coast close to Abercastle with the drone and the long lens. A beautiful sunset lit up the coast with a golden glow. I’ve always liked the sea arch here and it was nice to get a new angle on it with the drone. The final sunset shot was an exercise in patience. The sun was rapidly dropping but none of the gulls, returning home to roost, were in the right place until this one obliged!
The black church at Buðir - Iceland
in Landscape
After digging them out from the archives, I couldn’t decide which of these three pictures of the black church at Buðir to include in the previous post, so I thought I’d give them a stage of their own. The church is black as it’s painted with pitch (as used on the hulls of boats) against the weather and has become a very popular spot for photographers visiting Iceland where it stands in contrast against the mountains beyond. Luckily, as we were there out of the busy season, we had the area to ourselves. On a freezing and windy afternoon we lingered for a while taking pictures and it was nice to be in such a place as the only visitors, to truly feel the sense of isolation and peace despite the biting wind. No doubt there have been some hardy members of the congregation over the years as the first church on the site was built in 1703 when Iceland must have been an inhospitable place to find yourself.
Iceland - Revisited
in Landscape
A friend recently asked to use one of my images as the cover for his latest music release. The picture was from a trip I made to Iceland in 2017. It prompted me to have a look through the archives and I pulled out some shots that I’d overlooked at the time or felt that I’d not made the most of when processing first time around. As per my previous post, it was good to look back through with a fresh eye and fresh skills in Lightroom and make a new mini collection of highlights from those 6 wintry days.
Carmarthen Fans - Revisited
in Landscape
A while back I posted some pictures of a trip to the Western edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The Carmarthen Fans provide a good day out and it’s an easily doable trip from Pembrokeshire that gives a little more interest and altitude than our local Preseli Hills can provide (not that I don’t love them). For some reason the other day it occurred to me that I should revisit these shots and that they might look good in black and white. It’s a useful lesson for photographers to always shoot in RAW and to keep hold of files despite the temptation to clear out images you feel you won’t need again. Storage in the form of external hard drives aren’t too expensive these days and a useful resource when your everyday machine starts to fill up and slow down. The more you use Lightroom or Photoshop the better you become at processing and also, the longer you are a photographer for, the better your eye becomes at picking out good ones. This can be because you better understand the potential of an image post processing or it can be the increased ability of the eye to pick out those elements that make a good photo. You might need to have a second look and then crop down the image before a eureka moment tells you it’s a good one. Also, it’s interesting to look at the settings you were using at the time. Despite thinking I knew what I was doing back in January 2017, I can’t believe that despite howling winds that could potentially cause camera shake and soft images, I was shooting some of these at a relatively slow shutter speed when I could easily have boosted the ISO and shot a faster speed.
I remember that I was really pleased when I found the interesting little ice formation in one of the shots below. At the time, when I got home I didn’t feel I’d got a good shot of it but looking back, processing it differently and making the most of the feature through better cropping, I’m really pleased with it and relieved I didn’t consign it to the recycling bin. Let me know what you think in the comments section.
