Feedback

After presenting the images from my first shoot over Christmas to the class I'm happy with the positive messages and thoughts put forward of my project so far. I do know that I've selected and began shooting a broad subject matter. I have received suggestions on focussing on a singular aspect of the coast path from Amroth - Tenby.

• Coastal Erosion - Cliffs notably located at Amroth have suffered severely from the attacking tide which presents a fascinating visual result on the coastline.
• Beaches Popularity- Even though I shot during the out of season winter months, maybe the Christmas break allowed more dog walkers etc to take to the beaches. They looked more busier than I had first anticipated, providing a similar picture postcard effect than can be captured during the summer months. It is an interesting idea to shoot a tighter crop and isolate these people within the expansive beaches that they are exploring.

I could even gain inspiration from researching local poets & painters that have documented many miles of Welsh coastline across many platforms.

Use Farmers Weather for accurate predictions. 

Further West

Today I scouted out any more interesting locations of beaches, dunes, paths & rock formations along the coast further west of Tenby towards Castle Martin, the conditions today were truly Welsh, wet & windy so these images are only going to be used as research and not intended for print or exhibition.

Amroth - Tenby

My first dedicated day shooting the stretch from Amorth to Tenby, documenting the diverse landscapes that can be found within the ten miles of coastline between the old mining village and the historic walled town, including the harbour at Saundersfoot, currently disused as it is out of tourist season and the tides aren't as friendly to the small vessel's during winter. It was a grey, cloudy day that allowed some brief spells of sunshine. I shot on a tripod to allow for longer shutter speeds than usual, for maximum sharpness at f22 at ISO100. However it was very windy in some of the large, exposed locations such as Tenby South Beach, where I used a higher shutter speed of ISO400 for a higher shutter speed.

Flaw with Milford Haven

Today I received a message from a friend of mine in Pembrokeshire who found out about my intentions to document around Milford Haven. She was kind enough to let me know that there is a heavy police presence surrounding the area at the moment because of the recent Terror alerts etc. They are moving people on and suggested that I stick to my original coast path idea, noting locations between Amroth & Saundersfoot as I intended to do, but also Castlemartin & Marloes would be interesting locations to photograph.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/concerns-raised-over-pembrokeshire-ports-10458258

Artist Research - Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon is a photographer that emerges herself within her subject matter, educating herself and spending extended time in contact with the appropriate officials to ensure the required access can be given. 'An American Index of the Hidden & Unfamiliar', is a very informative series that provides an insight into exactly what the title entails, important locations & features of American culture that are not openly accessible to the public. This particularly vibrant image shows The Beach House at the Kennedy Space Centre, where American astronauts use before their mission launch. Another highly detailed image, it is technically sharp enough through the use of small aperture to vividly show launch pads in the distance. The composition is also split 50/50 by the horizon in the distance, disrupted by the main subject of the house, with an equal proportion of the top & bottom of the frame being taken up by sky & plant-life respectfully. I also like how the angled perspective of the photography shows the balcony area of the house isn't under a cloud, or directly over the shrubbery. 

Artist Research - Sebastiao Salgado

Whilst his historic social documentary imagery earned acclaim across the world, Salagdo turned to nature to restore his faith in humanity, by experiencing beautiful creatures and scenery across the world he documented in the same style as before, with large black & white photographs of vast spaces, capturing incredible the incredible detail of his subjects. The exposure of this particular image is impressive to me, the details of the clouds in the sky do not cancel out the darkness within shadows, cast by the mountain but also the dark areas of the thousands of penguins on display.

Presentation

Sainsbury's - Gallagher Retail Park

Sainsbury's employs about 161,000 staff across 1,200 stores, depots and support centres across the country, recently they announced a reduction of 800 in store staff as part of a nationwide restructuring programme. Today is Black Friday and unlike supermarket rivals ASDA, Sainsbury's will be playing a ‘very moderate’ role in this imported tradition from the states. Last year over £800m was spent across Britain with chaotic scenes in a some stores as consumers scrambled to get the best deals before Christmas.

Gallagher Retail Park, located just two miles outside of Cheltenham Town Centre, between Swindon Village & Uckington on Tewkesbury Road boasts over 500 parking spaces available at no cost for consumers. The site also hosts numerous chain stores that can be found in identical Out of Town shopping locations across the country such as Next, Pets at Home & DFS. The entire retail space measures up to 149,688 square feet across 12 units, 37.66 % of which is owned by British Land, who also operate the massive Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, and numerous Public spaces in London.

Out of Town retail spaces for the UK have grown in popularity rapidly, at the peril of traditional High Street shopping locations, with 987 stores closing on High Streets across the country in 2014. The trend follows the American Power Center model of building on cheaper, utilising an anchor store (Sainsbury's) attracting other retailers to let more affordable land on the outskirts of towns and cities. More recently however there has been an effort to limit the size and impact these locations have on their local environment, planning controls have been tightened to preserve the countryside from traffic & pollution by encouraging the building of smaller units on brownfield sites instead.