AnnMarie's Blog

A little way out of Dolgellau, adjacent to Llanelltyd, lie the ruins of an ancient Cistercian abbey. It was a dull, wet & windy day today but since we needed to visit Doll anyway, an educational walk around the abbey seemed in order.

Cymer Abbey was founded by Maredudd ap Cynan in 1198 and populated by monks from Abbey Cwmhir. The monastery was abandoned in the Dissolution of 1536 and today there remains the ruined walls of its main place of worship, a 30m nave:

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The architecture is certainly beautiful but also plain, this must have been a hard place to live; records show that the monks lived in poverty for most of the abbey’s life. The foundations of cloister, dining hall & chapter also remain today but it would appear any  remaining quarters could only be built from lighter weight materials, leaving little trace today. It is thought that the neighbouring farmhouse may be built around the Abbot’s original house or the guest quarters.

At its height the monks farmed sheep, mined precious metals and kept a stud of high quality horses to supply the local Welsh prince, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great).

Part way through its history a tower was added to the abbey structure, part of this survives today:

The abbey is located at the join between the Wnion & Mawddach rivers and also at the most convenient point to ford the river estuary. So despite its poverty the abbey was on a busy route and may have been visited by passers by, including the Princes of Wales.

There are many ways to photograph a horse, one classic composition is the facial portrait. Whilst it is possible to use flash lighting & artificial back drops, this is not necessary; rewarding portraits can be achieved with just natural light. This does of course require some patience, waiting for the desired lighting. Today was just such an occasion, the low freezing  murk cleared at lunchtime, leaving a brief sunny spell that was ideal for purpose. Here are some example images, all taken today.

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The key in each of these shots was to encourage the horse to make a characterful expression. Sometimes it is easier to do this with an assistant but here I was on my own. Of course there are other points to consider as well, such as:

• Direction of light
• Background positioning
• Fast enough shutter speed to freeze any motion
• Large aperture to reduce depth of field & blur background
• Suitable focal length for horse’s confidence / nervousness (all above were taken at 150mm)

The opportunity can also be taken to do some close detail shots of the horse, like below:

Finishing can include the production of Black & White images, colour variations, the addition of vignettes and many other things; its great to experiment & explore.

Happy New Year to all. Well the old year ended with plenty of ice and the new one has begun with fire, so maybe I should have said “Ice & Fire”.

After a very cold night everywhere was covered in a heavy layer of frost – just the sort of thing to test my new macro lens on. The picture below was taken using a tripod & mirror lock up; its of tiny ice crystals on a car windscreen:

Then this evening I was just heading out to check the horses & wish them happy new year when I noticed that the neighbouring village of Corris was having a fireworks display. Only had time to run, grab a camera and shoot a couple of frames but it was still a pretty way to welcome the new year in.

Hope 2009 turns out to be a good year for everyone.

I’ve been in need of a longer focal length macro lens for a while. Today I took delivery of a Sigma 150mm f2.8 APO Macro DG EX; that’s quite a name! Now I usually stick to Canon L series lenses but this Sigma EX has a very good reputation and is quite a bargain at the moment. Anyway took the lens for an afternoon stroll in today’s dull, cloudy and sub zero weather. The lens seems promisingly versatile being suitable for portraiture as well as macro work. Tamsin & her pony, Snowy, seemed like good subjects to take trial portrait shots of. The gloomy afternoon would ensure the use of higher ISO & open aperture, I used only natural light for these shots. Here’s an image of Snowy, taken with the Sigma lens on a Canon 5D:

I am very pleased with the nice bokeh that this lens produces; it is also acceptably sharp from wide open and gives a pleasant feel to the picture. The build quality appears good but perhaps not up to the rock solid build that Canon L series lenses give you. Focusing is quiet and of an acceptable speed for a macro lens but the AF doesn’t feel as accurate as a discerning photographer might wish for. Here’s a sample shot of Tamsin:

Overall, I am very pleased with the lens and look forward to taking more images with it. I expect to use it for macro, portrait (animal & human) and wedding photography. A brief test with both extension tubes & a x1.4 extender promises well for achieving good macro shots with magnification in excess of life size (1:1).