Aberdaron - ddiwedd y byd

[rob marshall]

This is Aberdaron on the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales. I call it 'the end of the world' as it's so far out on the peninsula. It was the home of the famous Welsh poet R.S. Thomas, who was the vicar at this church during the 1970's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas he's dead now, but not buried here.

Map of Aberdaron location

A Marriage by R. S. Thomas
We met
under a shower
of bird-notes.
Fifty years passed,
love's moment
in a world in
servitude to time.
She was young;
I kissed with my eyes
closed and opened
them on her wrinkles.
`Come,' said death,
choosing her as his
partner for
the last dance, And she,
who in life
had done everything
with a bird's grace,
opened her bill now
for the shedding
of one sigh no
heavier than a feather.

It's a beautiful poem, isn't it?

[Sahil]

Beautiful poem, yes & more beautiful than that is this image.
I would have got this printed & framed in my living room.

[Seriche]

A perfect match of poem and image

That's my favourite R.S.Thomas poem, with 'Death of a Poet' a close second. You Celts have a beautiful way with words. Such a pity he learned the Welsh language too late to write poetry in it.

I've never seen a church so near the sea before. It looks very old. Has it always been like that or has the sea risen? Must be quite a sight in a gale

Seri

[dje]

Fascinating image Rob, composition is excellent IMO. I think B&W is ideal for this one - it creates an atmosphere consistent with the bleakness and remoteness of a place like this.

Dave

[Donald]

Excellent Rob. Supeb B & W image.

[rob marshall]

That's my favourite R.S.Thomas poem, with 'Death of a Poet' a close second. You Celts have a beautiful way with words. Such a pity he learned the Welsh language too late to write poetry in it.

I've never seen a church so near the sea before. It looks very old. Has it always been like that or has the sea risen? Must be quite a sight in a gale

Seri

Thanks, Seri. If you are interested, and haven't read it, the biography of Thomas by Byron Rogers is very good. My wife is reading it at present so I can't get my hands on it. But she says it's very interesting (he was rather an eccentric) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Who-Went...1071559&sr=8-1

The church is about 60ft above the water-line. It probably looks less than that in the shot as I was further up the hill.

[rob marshall]

Fascinating image Rob, composition is excellent IMO. I think B&W is ideal for this one - it creates an atmosphere consistent with the bleakness and remoteness of a place like this.

Dave

It certainly is that! I think driving to the end of a long peninsular like that just emphasises the remoteness - Ardnamurchan in Scotland is the same. The walk around the headland you can see in the shot must be one of the most rugged and spectacular coast walks in the UK. I needed a pint (Fosters, of course) when we finished the eight miles at 21:00

[ilovelucydog]

It is a beautiful image and the poem is beautiful as well. It's interesting that it is so far out, and a cemetery at the end... makes me think. The sailboat that you barely see caught my eye... the B & W is perfect.

[mammarazzi]

Just stunning Rob you really capture the beauty of our wonderful country - you should be working for the Tourist Board

Joanne

[rob marshall]

Just stunning Rob you really capture the beauty of our wonderful country - you should be working for the Tourist Board

Joanne

Kind of you to say so, Joanne, but I gave up work at 48, and have no great desire to get my shoulder back to the wheel

[MiniChris]

I was immediately struck by this image's far left gravestone in realizing Mr. Griffith Jones died the same year I was born, but it was his stone which made me wonder why you felt you needed all that extra space to the left. I know at one point you said it was the "end of the world," and so I assumed the penisula jutting outward at the top of the frame into the sea emphasized that note, and yet, I still didn't quite understand the added space - which for your photographs, is a bit on the rare side as you are always quite precise in your composition.

Just for giggles, I did a small crop, allowing for the land to still seem at world's end, but omitting that dead space to the left and minimally clipping the top and bottom to keep the same aspect rectangular ratio. It's a thought.

[rob marshall]

I was immediately struck by this image's far left gravestone in realizing Mr. Griffith Jones died the same year I was born, but it was his stone which made me wonder why you felt you needed all that extra space to the left. I know at one point you said it was the "end of the world," and so I assumed the penisula jutting outward at the top of the frame into the sea emphasized that note, and yet, I still didn't quite understand the added space - which for your photographs, is a bit on the rare side as you are always quite precise in your composition.

Just for giggles, I did a small crop, allowing for the land to still seem at world's end, but omitting that dead space to the left and minimally clipping the top and bottom to keep the same aspect rectangular ratio. It's a thought.

I thought I was the oldest member here. You beat me by six years.

I think the G1 has made me lazy. The shot is not cropped at all, it's exactly as I shot it, so it's 4,000 x 3,000 pixels. The camera, due to it's on-screen rule-of-thirds grid, enables very easy composition, and I rarely find the need to crop. I also think I'm trying to shoot so that I don't have to crop - as a challenge to myself!

[jeeperman]

As said...wonderful conversion Rob. Sets the perfect mood and makes me feel as if I were standing on the hill deep in thought.

[ANSORB]

I thought I was the oldest member here. You beat me by six years.

I think the G1 has made me lazy. The shot is not cropped at all, it's exactly as I shot it, so it's 4,000 x 3,000 pixels. The camera, due to it's on-screen rule-of-thirds grid, enables very easy composition, and I rarely find the need to crop. I also think I'm trying to shoot so that I don't have to crop - as a challenge to myself!

Never got to Aberdaron but we did our courting on the Lleyn Peninsula and anything which reminds me of that is always pleasant. But that gravestone makes me 19 years older than Rob. Is anyone older than that? Can't say I feel old though Recent memory is a bit of a problem to me and everybody else..

[Seriche]

Thanks, Seri. If you are interested, and haven't read it, the biography of Thomas by Byron Rogers is very good. My wife is reading it at present so I can't get my hands on it. But she says it's very interesting (he was rather an eccentric) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Who-Went...1071559&sr=8-1

The church is about 60ft above the water-line. It probably looks less than that in the shot as I was further up the hill.

Thanks, Rob I ordered the book yesterday and it's on its way. It will join the five on the life of Mervyn Peake and will probably be read ahead of them. I have a weakness for biographies about difficult and creative men, but having lived with one such for eighteen years, I have no romantic illusions left. Reading the biographies is *so* much better

I can't believe that church is 60 ft up the hill. It makes much more sense though.

Seri

[rob marshall]

Thanks, Rob I ordered the book yesterday and it's on its way. It will join the five on the life of Mervyn Peake and will probably be read ahead of them. I have a weakness for biographies about difficult and creative men, but having lived with one such for eighteen years, I have no romantic illusions left. Reading the biographies is *so* much better

Seri

If you like biographies of creative and troubled people then you might like Hunter Davies book on Wordsworth that I have just read http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...ef=oss_product Hunter writes well, and it's quite an easy read. There's more to Wordsworth than what we all think. And if you are reading that you can also try Richard Holmes first vol of Coleridge's biography Early Visions, which is beautifully writtenhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...ef=oss_product Coleridge and Wordsworth were big friends and lived in the same area of the Lakes, so the biographies complement each other as they refer to similar thing/events, but from a different perspective.

This is turning into a book forum!

[rob marshall]

Never got to Aberdaron but we did our courting on the Lleyn Peninsula and anything which reminds me of that is always pleasant. But that gravestone makes me 19 years older than Rob. Is anyone older than that? Can't say I feel old though Recent memory is a bit of a problem to me and everybody else..

Well, it's a fine romantic place to do courting! Nineteen years older, eh? Well I feel like 100! especially after climbing Cadair Idris last week...

[Seriche]

If you like biographies of creative and troubled people then you might like Hunter Davies book on Wordsworth that I have just read http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...ef=oss_product Hunter writes well, and it's quite an easy read. There's more to Wordsworth than what we all think. And if you are reading that you can also try Richard Holmes first vol of Coleridge's biography Early Visions, which is beautifully writtenhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...ef=oss_product Coleridge and Wordsworth were big friends and lived in the same area of the Lakes, so the biographies complement each other as they refer to similar thing/events, but from a different perspective.

This is turning into a book forum!

Don't talk books to me, for goodness' sake! As I write I'm surrounded by piles of the things rescued from fiery deaths. More sensuous than chocolate are books in their fine leather coats

I'll keep your recommendations safe for later indulgence. And will now contemplate your church in order to recover from all the excitement

Seri

[rob marshall]

More sensuous than chocolate are books in their fine leather coats

Nice line...

[MiniChris]

I thought I was the oldest member here. You beat me by six years.

I think the G1 has made me lazy. The shot is not cropped at all, it's exactly as I shot it, so it's 4,000 x 3,000 pixels. The camera, due to it's on-screen rule-of-thirds grid, enables very easy composition, and I rarely find the need to crop. I also think I'm trying to shoot so that I don't have to crop - as a challenge to myself!

Curious if you think the crop adds to, or takes from? It wouldn't make me not hang it on my wall in its present state, but like some other art I've acquired over the years, it would make me look at it more for scrutiny than content...and even that isn't particulalr a bad thing, because sometimes the scrutiny is to there to teach me, as often do your compositions.