Pembrokeshire - Day 1 (Freshwater West)
Following the last-minute cancellation of a trip to the Lake District before Christmas, I had been craving an adventure. In early February, an opportunity presented itself—the destination was the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. This location appealed to me having seen some YouTube videos from Ian Worth and through perusing the Explore & Discover South Wales photography guide book from fotoVUE. The images and video footage spoke for themselves.
The next task was to work out how best to get there, and where to stay. Living in London we have one car which we use to taxi my son in over the weekend, so I had to hire a vehicle. But what kind? I needed flexibility and accessibility to locations early in the morning, without the risk of waking anyone up, or the need to drive long distances before dawn. Solution: camper-van. After a little research I settled on using Indie Campers—the process of hiring was simple, painless and efficient. Highly recommended if you don’t have your own camper (I will be using them again).
Now that the camper was booked, I started planning the locations and a couple of weeks later I would be on my way to South Wales.
The Journey
February is not known for the best weather, but sunrise and sunset times are advantageous. But given landscape photography can be best when the conditions are with you I had spent the 2 weeks prior to my departure obsessively checking the weather forecast—I’m not sure why as I was going to shoot whatever the weather. The opportunities don’t come around that often when you have a young family and work full time. And just like that, the weekend was here.
My first challenge was getting out of London. 2 hours later and I had only just made my way from South East London to the M4, going past Heathrow Airport. In what was already a 5.5 hour journey, with an hour delay I was a little frustrated. However, I soon realised I would be out with my camera that evening, and I perked up.
While I had planned a number of locations to shoot at, the only one I had planned for a specific time was the first, Freshwater West, a surfers paradise. After a service station stop just outside Cardiff, it was just 2 more hours of driving.
2 hours later, I arrived. While the skies were not great, I had some rugged coastline, a seaweed drying hut, and fresh air—I was excited to see what the weekend would bring.
Freshwater West
I arrived at the car park around 4pm, an hour and a half before sunset. My intended subject, an example of seaweed drying hut built by the National Park Authority, was situated very close to the van, so I tended to my gear for a bit and prepared for the blustery February conditions that were awaiting me.
I ventured out and spent 15 minutes or so looking at the potential compositions—my first is below. The uninspiring skies drove me to focus on the hut and its immediate location, which was surrounded by low grasses, rugged, rocky cliffs and turquoise blue sea. The image, while not the best, was one in the bag and it got my photography juices flowing.
Seaweed Drying Hut, Freshwater West (Fuji GFX 50S II)
Having just taken this image, I thought I would not be able to better it as the clouds were thickening, getting less textured and the light was fading. However, I waited—a learned skill of the landscape photographer, although not usually my strong point. I had nowhere else to be, so why not.
I turned my back on the sea, thinking about moving to a different location along the beach; maybe the dunes? Before doing so I took one final look back towards the sea and saw a cloud-break on the horizon, orange light pouring through it. I jumped into action as the light was likely to be fleeting. I set up my tripod and tried to find a balanced composition between the seaweed drying hut and the magnificent light. It was hard to find a balanced composition, one with all the elements in the right place, so something had to give. I simply focussed on getting a semblance of balance between the hut and the background light—the mid-ground elements (cliffs and breaking waves) would sit wherever they sat. The light was simply too good to miss! The result is below.
Cloud-break, Freshwater West (Fuji GFX 50S II)
My first photo was taken at around 4.45pm and the second around 5pm, so what felt like a long wait between photos, wasn’t in reality (perhaps time passed slowly as it was cold and windy). But what it does show is that sticking around, even just a little bit longer, pays off. The light and conditions can change in a moment. This first shoot was a nice little reminder of this and something I made sure not to forget for the rest of the trip.
In Part 2 I visit the Green Bridge of Wales, Elgug Stacks (Stack Rocks) and Marloes Sands.
