Llansteffan Castle

Yesterday I decided to take the long road to Llansteffan. It lies across the estuary but there is no passenger ferry to take you from one side to the other as there once was many decades ago. So its a train ride to Carmarthen and then a bus to Llansteffan. A 17 mile trek as opposed to  quarter of a mile across the sea.

The bus journey was annoying. Two old men (I'm being polite) moaned all the way to Llansteffan in loud, arrogant voices. Seemingly believing they had a monopoly on Public Transport. Attracting the drivers' attention, they asked, no told him, to turn the heating off. No one else on the bus was asked for their opinion, and disappointingly the driver did as he was told. I despise arrogance and selfishness and their actions riled me. I turned around and told them that I had been comfortable, only to receive a "so what" look from both. Why do some people believe that they are more important than any one else?

I was glad to jump off the bus and continue with my day not allowing them to spoil what I intended to be an enjoyable day.

I walked along the beach and headed through the woods up to the Castle. Llansteffan Castle has always been one of my favourite places to visit. The atmosphere there is always full of the spirit of history and I feel surrounded by legends of old.

The intention of my visit was to shoot some film with my Mamiya 67 Medium Format Camera. First I sat and soaked up the atmosphere of the castle and then wandered around looking for compositions and abstract views. I'm not sure that I found the abstract, but I'm hoping that there will be some photographs to add to my professional portfolio. This visit my intention was of a personal nature, as opposed to photographing for the Personal Project. I have been wanting to visit the Castle since we moved back to Wales and I reveled in its ambience.

My Personal Project is an attempt to capture the spirit of Wales, its history, its culture combined with the connection I feel to the land through my ancestors. Thinking about this, depending on the results from my shoot yesterday, my original thought not to use the castle images for my personal project may change.