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The Ultimate Selfie?
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Morning ride up mynydd dinas to take a self portrait from 5km away
Three things I enjoy very much are riding bikes, photography and exploring landscapes I find myself in. Living in Wales and partly growing up in Pembrokeshire means I have an almost limitless menu of opportunities to choose from whatever the weather. I also have an affliction. My subconscious seems to run an around the clock sub-plot to devise challenges with improbable outcomes that usually involve a degree of physical or mental discomfort and the necessity to deliver a photograph that will warrant if I’m lucky, more than a glazed look from the population of fast-swiping views on social media. We live in exciting times where almost everyone is a photographer courtesy of their mobile phone cameras and the challenge of capturing impactful images that stand out is greater than ever. My photography is never motivated by interests of personal or financial gain, but to share my interpretation of the fantastic World we live in through thought-provoking angles, original viewpoints or moments in time that tell a story.
On this particular occasion, I was at my parents‘ house that overlooks Fishguard Lower Town - almost as far west as you can go in Wales before you fall into the Irish Sea. Looking beyond the small boats and colourful terraces of Lower Town that were once the setting for the 1971 film of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, the landscape rises dramatically to the craggy hills of the Preseli Mountains. Strictly speaking, they should be called the ‘Preseli stumps of former mountains’, since they represent a once great range of ancient rocks that are famous for a lot of things including the source of the Bluestones of Stonehenge. Today their highest point only rises to a rolly poly 536 metres above sea level, but that’s more than enough for a morning bike ride to take a photograph.
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I have a theory that cyclists participating in races or time trials could far outdo the dubious benefits of EPO or other performance enhancing drugs perfectly legally. All they have to do is factor in a family commitment such as a swimming lesson starting dangerously close to the anticipated finish time of the ride. It doesn‘t matter what you are riding or what you are wearing, if you’re a Strava user, your segments carried out under such conditions will always, without fail be a Personal Record - unbeatable under any other circumstances.
But back to the photograph. When I downloaded the images from the camera I was happy to find that over half the shots were both sharp and had achieved the composition and lighting I was after. To add drama, some remaining wisps of morning mist were sidelit against the black summer sky and with minimal processing I was perfectly satisfied with the result.
A print of the final image is on display at Plan2Ride Cafe in Tongwynlais.
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Amazingly, the one bar of signal that EE had generously provided in that remote location worked, and I was able to phone back to tell my wife to press the shutter button. The wind was really howling and above the noise, I made out a string of questions from 5km away such as “where‘s the on button; it‘s cold; I can only see black; I can see a sheep, etc.” After sending more instructions down the line, I was lined up and hoped for the best, suggesting to be as gentle as possible with the camera button since the slightest pressure on the tripod at that distance equated to several meters of vertical movement.
I was getting really cold up there, and before the call ended, I was given the additional mission of being back at the house as soon as possible for a family boat trip to Ramsey Island departing at 10:30 am. Sliding off Mynydd Dinas was a lot easier than climbing up it and once I was back on the grass, was able to complete the journey back via the pretty and isolated Gwaun Valley even faster than the last time I’d ridden there on a road bike.