my Ceredigion and my Cardigan Bay » photography

Photographing the Sun

Paul Williams — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:30:04 +0000

Cutting across my earliest conditioning and ignoring my camera’s manual, today I photographed the sun.

Conditions were favourable; a light breeze, some cloud but a bright sky with a south facing aspect.

During a 30 minute tea break my boss is man-handling a rare Carl Zeiss Jena prism lens into position on the outside workbench. Originally intending to photograph the lump for eBay and doubtless a very good price, the opportunity to mess about with the light from our nearest star was too good to miss.

While he manouvered the beast into position I set up an adhoc viewing surface (the back of a short wave radio manual) and set about capturing the clouds scudding across the face of the sun.

With no way of accurately focussing the image and with me working hand held it is of neccessity a rough a ready pair of images I brought home.

Somehow, and I don’t know quite how, we felt like twin Galileos, rather awed by the simple fact of looking at the Sun.

What next; running with scissors?

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Photos: Barley Saturday, Cardigan, 2010

Paul Williams — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:26:10 +0000

Another Barley Saturday; another overcast day, warm but waiting to rain. Not a lot different to last year, though a week late and under the watchful eye of S4C.

24 photographs in the slideshow and I’ve picked what I think is my best shot; I’d love to hear what you think it might be…

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Paul Williams Photo Gallery; Portraits

Paul Williams — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:57:49 +0000

I was asked this week to provide some examples of my photography portraiture.

Here’s what I posted in a bit of a hurry.

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Photo: Amanda Glover 1958-2009

Paul Williams — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:06:23 +0000

I’m posting today a photograph of a dear and beautiful friend who died last week after a long illness.

She would not thank me for the image but I think that anyone who knew her will recognise this joyful and typically ‘Mandy’ expression.

A tender soul who suffered too much.

My heartfelt condolences go to her family and her friends.

More pictures of Amanda Glover here at Ian Willson’s blog…

Photo: River Teifi in flood at Llechryd

Paul Williams — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:29:18 +0000

Another wet and windy day here in Cardigan. Clearly not as wet and windy as Cockermouth where hundreds are destined to be in temporary accomodation for months. So thanking my lucky stars, my journey home from viewing Stephen Jones’ Henllan Salerooms, allowed me time to stop on photograph the River Teifi. The broad winding stretch underneath the not so new castle at Newcastle Emlyn was happily colonised by sea gulls foraging for who knows what. At Cenarth Falls the spate was so great that the falls seemed to have disappeared; and down stream below the indomitable bridge the water was surging, twisting and doing its best to be thoroughly frightening. Towards Llechryd (home of my former band, the Llechryd Light Orchestra) the river course had spilled its banks and then some. The road was clear but the bridge was under though cars could splash across.

Anyway it was dusk and the skies were clearing enough to show a rosy glow and a skein of geese like me, driving themselves home.