A day just me and my Camera...

My day was full of beauty and connections. I drove along the coast from Saundersfoot to Pendine where the sky was a most glorious yellow… I stopped everywhere I saw a photo opportunity, walking along all the beaches, thanking the universe for sharing such wonders with me and feeling happy and peaceful inside.

 I had intended to drive to Llanfallteg when I left Pendine but I forgot about Laurghne … I hadn’t been there for many years and felt Dylan Thomas’ spirit calling me. I parked and spent a few hours there. The boat house was empty but for me, and was lovely and warm. I took my time looking at everything and sat and watched the film of his life, but I was a bit disappointed that there was nothing of his voice in the film. So I mentioned this to the man at the desk and he said “oh … I’ll put his poems on for you ..go and make yourself comfortable in the sitting room.” So I sat in DT’s chair, closed my eyes, listened to his Welsh Preacher Style Rendition of some of his poems, and almost fell asleep in the comfort and warmth. What a treat that was. I felt a real connection with him then.

Sadly, his writing shack was locked, they’re making repairs to it as the wood is rotting and unsafe … but I shot some pictures through the window and hope I get something.

After shooting some more film of the surrounding area, I did head for Llanfallteg and stopped at my old school in Henllan … by this time I was very much in the zone and could see even more photo opportunities … I passed through Rhyd Y Wrach where as a child I always raced through for fear of being caught and kidnapped by the witch that my mother convinced me was always on the look out for little girls….hehe!

When I arrived in Carmarthen I found that my connecting train had been cancelled … so the hour turned into almost two hours … its only 8 mins from Carmarthen to Ferryside!

But no matter …nothing was going to spoil my day …fortunately I had my knitting with me.. haha yes I knit! Sitting in the waiting room I listened to people on their mobile phones moaning about their day at work, or shushing boyfriends on the other end, telling them they couldn’t talk as they were in the station waiting room … there was one young woman who totally bamboozled me … she had the fastest speaking voice I have ever heard in my life .. I was intrigued, no matter how hard I tried to attune to her words, I couldn't understand a thing… her boyfriend seemed to understand perfectly! It was most peculiar.

After a while I had to succumb to the delights of the Coracle Buffet… I was so hungry, I hadn’t had anything except a biscuit since my tea cake … the cafe assistant was gleefully telling us all why SHE never catches trains but has a lovely little car. There was a wry smile on many a face in the cafe.

I feel there must have been a reason for spending so much time in the company of strangers today …. It came to mind that Dylan Thaomas'  "Under Milk Wood" was playing a scene for me ….. or maybe he was talking to me telling me that there are many diverse characters out there and that I should spend more time listening to them.

It was a perfect day, a magical day.

Fujifilm Competition

http://www.fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk/


The theme for this years' Student Awards is The Colour of .....

Presentation

Today was the first session of the presentations, the second half of the group will do their next Tuesday. I am very glad that it is now done. I was feeling very nervous as I always do when I have to stand in front of an audience and talk about my work. The presentation is marked as part of our final BA grade so it was important to do as well as I could.

I faltered a little and I did run over the time limit of 10 minutes. I did not leave enough time to discuss the slides of my own images at the end, but I did show them and pause at each one.

The comments I received from a few of the other students were that my voice was quiet but clear, and that I sounded calm and in control. I am fortunate that although my nerves are jangling inside me, I am able to appear quite confident. If only I had a little more belief in my own abilities to do well.

The lecturers commented after each student had made their presentation. After mine, they said that they were pleased to see that I had overcome my initial problems with my personal project work, and that this exercises had been advantageous for me, as it had enabled me to have a clearer picture of the concept of my work, which I felt was quite true. In writing my presentation, and seeing my work from another perspective, I had come to realise that my connection with the land, is an ancestral one. It is my family and my fore bearers who tie me to this land, and it is them who allow me to see the beauty of it.

This was a compulsory part of the BA Module; we will be given feedback at a later date.

There was some interesting work being shown today by my fellow students. It was a great opportunity to see what everyone has been working on. There is not often the chance to see everyone's work; this final year is very much about self directed study, and when we meet for seminars, it is in small groups and there are often students absent.

My main errors were that I used two political quotes that were not really relevant to my work. I misunderstood the quotes and put forward opinions that I had not fully thought out. But mistakes are made to learn from, so I am not going to give myself a hard time about that.

I think on the whole, I did quite well. This will be the last presentation I will have to give during my studies for the BA Degree. I am not sorry it is the last, but only wish that my confidence was greater than it is. It will depend very much on which path I take, as to whether I make any presentations when I leave University. One never knows.

Sally Mann Southern Landscapes

Sally Mann has had a big influence on my work. The ethereal quality and sublime beauty she manages to capture, almost overwhelms my sense of vision. This work is full of history; there is the memory of violence and destruction, but yet the images convey the love and memorial of those lives lost during Civil War and struggles. Black and white film conveys aptly the time of past events; the organic nature of her work is refreshing. She allows nature to intervene and enjoys the happy accidents that convey the relationship between the camera, the photographer and the landscape.

These are images that I could view endlessly, there is so much of the narrative, there is so much beauty and so much of the history of the land. Her love of her art seeps through the picture making process. they are a joy to behold.

Series of Images from Sally Mann "Southern Landscapes" (1998)

from her website

http://sallymann.com/selected-works/southern-landscapes

Pictures of Llansteffan Castle

Llansteffan Castle

 Where once I heard the songs of Medieval Flutes and Harps,

  Singing in the wind that blew the trees,

 and walked the ancient path with me.

How sweet the sound of ancient lands,

 Its voices speak, its voices sing.

 No longer fighting Saxon foe,

 but now in peace,

 And in its ruins long ago forgotten

brought back to mind

in imagination and in heart

the flutes and harps

of old

 Echoing in the winds of time

A poem I found today ....

‘Heredity'

I am the family face;

Flesh perishes, I live on,

Projecting trait and trace

Through time to times anon,

And leaping from place to place

Over oblivion.

The years-heired feature that can

In curve and voice and eye

Despise the human span

Ofdurance--that is I;

The eternal thing in man,

That heeds no call to die.

Thomas Hardy

ISBN 9780316724388 Edited by Neil Philip Little Brown Book (2000) GB

I picked up a book of poetry today at Waterstones. By chance I opened the book and this poem by Thomas Hardy was the first I came upon. I couldn't have found more appropriate words for my personal project if I had searched and searched. Isn't it wonderful how sometimes you fall upon something that is so fitting. 

My Interpretation of the Poem

My face resembles that of my ancestors, I have my mother's eyes, my grandfather's nose, some resemblance of character from my Grandmother and probably other traits from ancestors from centuries past. My siblings, my children, my nephews and nieces, all have some trait inherited from family now long gone and others still alive. Something of those whose ashes lie in the ground, will forever live on in me, and subsequently in others who come after me. Death is close to life and it is a part of life that is unavoidable. But the genes of my ancestors will always live on. Generations to come will have something of those who came before. It is eternal.

This is a sentiment that I have long believed, but Thomas Hardy has articulated it eloquently for me. My belief is that not only do the visual traits continue to live on as generation by generation continue the line of family, but that if we are wise, we can learn from our predecessors and attempt to redeem ourselves by putting right what was once wrong, by learning from their mistakes, and from living a life that is true to ourselves.

I briefly met a man who was a Pagan and having an interest in nature and the forces of nature, I researched a little in the Pagan beliefs. I found to my surprise that many of those beliefs are mirrored in my own. I am not a Pagan, and I do not follow their beliefs completely, but they do have similarities to my own beliefs. I am beginning to recognise that all these aspects of ancestry, culture, tradition and the language of Wales are included in the research for my project. Maybe at last I am beginning to understand my connection to this land that I call home,and that I call my beloved Wales.

(www.bbc.co.uthe language of Wales are includedk/religion/religions/paganism/)

Paganism..... a reverance for nature, the importance of caring for the environment, cherishing the earth .....a respect of ancestors and the lives they lived .... these are the facets of Paganism that appeal to me and that I am drawn too.

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.