Abersoch and the Llyn

The Llyn peninsular in North Wales is a place of contrasts: the popular beaches and seaside towns like Pwllheli and Abersoch, and the unexplored interior with its minor roads and solitude. On holiday a few weeks ago we took the campervan to Aberdaron, a little place virtually at the end of the peninsular. Surprisingly, the village paper shop opened promptly at 9.00 on a Sunday morning and I had no trouble buying a copy of our usual Observer. Later I walked a section of the coastal path right at the end of the peninsular. But the previous day we had paused a while in Abersoch, finding it much busier than expected (though no doubt the extremely hot late June weather was a factor). It's a bustling little place, with a pretty harbour, golf course, sand dunes and beach huts perched high above the beach, so naturally I took the opportunity to take some pictures and do some people watching. Apart from the beach huts, I really liked a collection of fishing paraphernalia outside the RNLI station and an old metalic ice cream advertising sign on the side wall of a shop in the centre.

Snowdon summit

Earlier this month I was in North Wales for a week or so with the campervan, and among other things took the opportunity of a trip to the top of Snowdon. On the train - but it was a really hot day and I wasn't sure whether I could cope too well with walking down, or even up. The little narrow gauge train from Llanberis was £23 return as we didn't organise ourselves in time to get the half price tickets on the first train of the day, but money well spent if you didn't fancy a three hour walk up and about the same going down.

Naturally I took quite a few photographs but the mountain was so crowded it was hard to get anything really interesting. Time at the summit was limited because if you didn't take the return train (after a 30 minute stay) you had to take your chances of finding a seat on a later one.

The new visitor centre at the train terminus just below the summit is really well designed to blend in with the landscape and is a worthy addition. There's a blog covering its construction here, and this features some pretty goood pictures as well. See http://blog.snowdonia-active.com

Images of rural Norfolk

The Norfolk Rural Community Council recently held a photography competition with the aim of finding images that summed up the strengths and challenges faced by rural communities. I was pleasantly surprised to win second prize with a shot of the Community Playbus (the picture is in my previous post). The Omnibus project, based in North Walsham, uses the bus to deliver information technology and play facilities to outlying rural areas. We came upon the bus purely by chance while travelling along a country lane somewhere in North Norfolk looking for other subjects entirely - and realised it would make an interesting statement for the 'services, access: are you being served' theme (one of six possibilities). Its appearance in the very rural setting and the fact that it represents a project clearly delivering service to rural areas obviously appealed.The one below was taken on my mobile phone at the Council's AGM and shows part of an exhibition stand with a range of selected other entries - the winners were announced as the last item at the meeting.

Pictures to order

I've just sent in my entry for a photography competition organised by Norfolk's Rural Community Council - there were several themes and the idea was to submit photographs that would illustrate some of the aspects of rural life....more geared to problems than to advantages, I think. Anyway, it proved harder than I had thought to find some suitable images for the various categories. In my mind's eye I knew what I wanted. In practice things didn't really go to plan. The countryside often looked far to picturesque: what I sought was the gritty reality of run-down shops and isolated people. I was looking for country shops to photograph but there weren't that many, and there weren't usually shoppers around. As a last ditch effort I decided to go up to the north Norfolk coast last Sunday to look at a group of houses near the cliff edge between Sheringham and Weybourne, that I thought would suit the isolation theme....and was rewarded with a dramatic overcast sky and a few good shots to choose from! The one I chose can be seen here.....


Here are some of the images I entered and a description of the category they relate to
Healthy environment, healthy community: (Winterton on Sea, Norfolk)

Services, access - are you being served? (Community Playbus, a project supporting families and groups by offering I.T. ande play facilities in rural locations, taken in north Norfolk)

Rural isolation - idyllic or isolated? (between Sheringham and Weybourne, Norfolk coast) ; the houses are at the end of a rough track from Weybourne village.

Birmingham rediscovered

I've recently had the opportunity to revisit Birmingham city centre several times, in particular for their German Christmas market, and can't fail to be impressed by some of the modern architecture and the way some buildings are lit. I discovered a tribute to Tony Hancock on Corporation Street, some interesting lighting outside the Bull Ring, and of course the iconic Selfridge's building is now an instantly recognisable landmark. There's a brooding statue by Antony Gormley at the western end of New Street. My favourite area is probably the Gas street basin area, with the Ikon Gallery, shops, reastaurants and canalside walks. Another thing is that the centre is remarkably compact and really you can walk from one side to the other in a few minutes.

Photography exhibitions in Norwich

It's been encouraging to find there have been two photography exhibitions on recently in Norwich. First of all the Flickr Norwich UK group organised an exhibition of members' work in a vacant shop unit in a prominent part of Norwich's Castle Mall shopping centre last month - which is still running - and secondly in the Forum there was a one week exhibition of the winning and shortlisted entries in the 'Norwich 12' competition. This was designed to find creative and original views of twelve heritage buildings in the city centre; the winning shots of each building will feature in a series of postcards. I'm always happy to see amateur photographers being encouraged to produce and display their work, and if it generates additional interest in the many fine buildings in the city, all well and good.

I was pleased that my own entry (top picture on the display board) for photographs of Norwich City Hall - a fine listed building designed in the Scandinavian style - made the short list and hence was on display. The launch evening for the exhibition was a great chance to talk with some of the other exhibitors about their photographs and to bounce some ideas around. I hope there will be another Norwich 12 competition this summer!

The Westman Islands

Of the Westman Islands, just off the south-west coast of Iceland, Vestmannaeyjar is an enthralling place to visit. The town of Heimaey was subjected to a volcanic eruption from Mount Edfell in 1973 that resulted in a substantial part of the island being covered by lava. When you visit today the scenery is dramatic, with the ash-covered hillsides and their beautiful flora, the dramatic and rugged cliffs teeming with puffins, the colourful town itself, and one of the most picturesque golf courses in the world.

One a day's visit I just had time to make a circuit of the volcano, have a look at the golf course and spend some time walking round the town and the harbourside area. We arrived by a launch from our cruise ship and had most of the day in Heimaey.

Of course I loved everything about the place, but the fish processing factories were so atmospheric. Just taking pictures of ordinary residential streets was appealing as well. The changing light and the low cloud produced an extraordinary kind of setting and the pictures I've selected here will hopefully convey some of that. On seeing a few of my pictures of this place, a photography tutor exclaimed "I want to go there!". Such is the enignatic quality of the place. It deserves another visit and another attempt to capture the unique atmosphere.