Portmeirion

It is appropriate that this is blog post no. 6 for the month, since it details my visit last weekend to Portmeirion.  I was in North Wales for a few days to celebrate my birthday, and was keen to spend a day there for some architectural and landscape shots.  Portmeirion is a beautiful little village, designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975.  Although largely in an Italian style, Williams-Ellis incorporated fragments of many demolished buildings in its construction and a number of other styles are evident up close.  Over all it has the feel of a giant folly.  It is, of course, probably most famous as the setting of 'The Village' in 60's cult TV series 'The Prisoner'.  A piece of trivia that isn't flogged as much as I'd feared, apart from the inevitable prisoner gift shop (I did like the replica jackets) and a 'Village' map near the entrance.

I was there on a lovely sunny day (best of my trip).  Whilst bright sun makes photography difficult, it was worth it to see this delightful setting at its best.  Naturally it is a popular tourist draw and was quite busy.  But what I discovered was that, once the ice cream shops shut at 5pm, most people go home.  Meaning that for the last couple of hours, before it closes to day visitors at 7pm, you can virtually get the place to yourself.  The light was a little kinder as well.

Be seeing you.

More Brampton Wood Spring Flowers

Some miscellaneous flower shots from Brampton Wood.

Greater Stitchwort

A few shots of Greater Stitchwort, taken at Brampton wood, with my 105mm macro lens plus a small extension tube and using a fairly minimal depth of field.

Primroses at Brampton Wood

With the spring flowers finally out, I have renewed my acquaintance with Brampton wood.  Despite the the bitter start to spring, it is much drier than it was this time last year.

I consider Brampton to be probably the best wood in the area for primroses, so that is where I started.  Primroses are frankly a bit of a sod to shoot.  The delicate yellow of the petals washes out at the slightest glimpse of the sun and they collect every bit of dust and dirt around (well what isn't on my sensor anyway).  After a couple of record shots, I used the 105mm macro lens to try some closer shots with more minimal depth of field.

Oxslips at Hayley Wood

After my visit to Therfield Heath, I stopped at Hayley Wood to photograph the Oxslips.  There was a good showing of these rare flowers, but many were lost amongst the undergrowth, especially bramble runners.  Since I like to get low for many of my shots, lying amongst the brambles was another chance to suffer for my art.

Pasque Flowers - Therfield Heath

As usual, I am behind in my blog updates.  These images were taken last week, when I took a day off work to photograph some spring flowers whilst they were still at their best.  I started off at Therfield Heath, near Royston to shoot the Pasque flowers.  I had been told that it was the best showing of these rare flowers seen there in 20 years.  It was certainly an impressive display, covering the chalk hillside.  It was a bright but also a rather windy day, making macro work rather tricky.  The combination of sun and cooling breeze, together with spending 4 hours facing the same way on a hillside, waiting for lulls in the wind for the flowers to stop shaking, also left me with a truckers tan down the left side of my face.  How I suffer for my art.