function photo(i,c,m,q,d,j,h,o,p,a,l,f,k,b,r,n,g,e){this.id=i;this.galleries_id=c;this.photo_ref=m;this.section_code=q;this.src=d;this.width=j;this.height=h;this.caption=o;this.home=p;this.gallery=a;this.description=l;this.takendate=f;this.photographer=k;this.location=b;this.item_price=r;this.purchase_instruction=n;this.payment_groups_id=g;this.server_id=e;this.src=getServerPath(this.server_id)+"/"+this.src}function gallery(e,c,d,b,a){this.id=e;this.featured_images=c;this.title=d;this.section_code=b;this.photoIDs=a}var backgrounds=new Object();backgrounds[3782123]=new photo(3782123,"227143","","gallery","scan0185.jpg",600,461,"Dead Tree, Dead Roots, Cefn Coch, Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion 2005",0,0,"Dead Tree, Cefn Coch, Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion 2005<br>\r\n<br>\r\nExposed tree roots, Lan Fraith, Hafod, Ceredigion 2005<br>\r\n<br>\r\nI have returned on numerous occasions to these old roots. This particular one had me, with the light quickly fading, laying on the ground in sheep poo attempting to focus my camera for half an hour. A pleasing composition and comes across as some theatrical backdrop.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nLan Fraith and the Cambrian Mountians:<br>\r\n<br>\r\nAll these images of dead trees and roots were taken after climbing up and over Robber’s Cave at Hafod to Lan Fraith plateau. I remember my first visit during heavy fog. The tall trees, branchless, standing like ancient monuments, imposing and eerie in the white gloom. The subsequent visits, of which there have been many, as often as I can, returning to particular trees. Photographing, re-photographing the upturned, exposed roots. With each year passing, more of their trunks, branches and roots eaten away by the damp, or wind, or frost or sheep rubbing themselves to rid themselves of an itch. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nOnce at the tip of the plateau, before you, stands the Cambrian Mountains and their marshy and heavily tussled grasslands, leading to Teifi Pools and Cwm Elan. Seemingly, nothing much to see up there, except cairns and secret lakes, peat bogs and sheep enclosures. But the views and the slowness of foot benefits the soul and many hours of contemplation can do no one any harm. Often I sing while I go. The sheep do not mind and if the wind is behind you, and the ground beneath dry, miles can pass by without notice. <br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3448255]=new photo(3448255,"227143","","gallery","scan0171.jpg",600,451,"Dead Tree Silhouette, Cefn Coch, Cwmystwyth 2008",1,0,"Cefn Coch and the Cambrian Mountians:<br>\r\n<br>\r\nAll these images of dead trees and roots were taken after climbing up and over the cave at Hafod to Cefn Coch plateau.  I remember my first visit during heavy fog.  The tall trees, branchless, standing like ancient monuments, imposing in the white gloom.  The subsequent visits, of which there have been many, as often as I can, returning to particular trees.  Photographing, re-photographing the upturned, exposed roots.  With each year passing, more of their trunks, branches and roots eaten away by the damp, or wind, or frost or sheep rubbing themselves to rid themselves of an itch.  <br>\r\n<br>\r\nOnce at the tip of the plateau before you stand the Cambrian Mountains and their marshy and heavily tussled grasslands, leading to Teifi Pools and Cwm Elan.  Seemingly, nothing much to see up there, except cairns and secret lakes, peat bogs and sheep enclosures.  But the views and the slowness of foot benefits the soul and many hours of contemplation can do no one any harm.  Often I sing while I go.  The sheep do not mind and if the wind is behind you, and the ground beneath dry, miles can pass by without notice.<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[4347198]=new photo(4347198,"227143","","gallery","scan0005_7CB6C607-2219-B5B5-4C70846C74941065.jpg",600,464,"Meandering Elan River, Bont Elan, Rhayader, Powys 2009",0,0,"I have waited approximately over two years from visualising and actually finding the right time and conditions to take this image.  I usually shy away from grand vista views but this meandering river has always been close to my heart.  I had to wait to high summer when the sun set as far west as possible and as to reflect against the bends of this unusually high meandering river.  I also had to wait for a summer day, with a few clouds (too many and it the sun would not reflect, too little and there would be little interest in the upper part of the image) and not to photograph too late in the day since the sun would be shining directly into the lens and would possibly give flare and no detail at all in the sky area.  The drive from my parents house at Hafod is half an hour and fortunately I had timed it to perfection.  The day was nearing it’s end and there was no one around, tourists and locals at home eating their dinner, even the sheep seemed to sense that the day was drawing to a close and remained static laying across the warm tarmac oblivious (and quite rightly so) to traffic.  A number of exposures were made using a variety of lenses (135mm and 180mm on a 5x4inch camera).","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3920605]=new photo(3920605,"227143","","gallery","scan02011.jpg",600,466,"Hafod Fields in Infra-red, Ceredigion 1994",0,0,"HAFOD ESTATE 1989 - 2009:<br>\r\n<br>\r\nMy home territory – the house that stood was much older than its famous owner, Thomas Johnes, who inherited 1760. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nOne of the greatest monuments to the picturesque movement, Johnes created a paradise in the then wild and dangerous Cardiganshire by planting over 3 million hardwood trees (all but felled for the two great wars), folly’s, many miles of paths, a hermits cave, monuments, a robbers cave (a small walk down a cave turns a corner into a mass of sound as you stand confronted by a waterfall), many secret gardens and retreats. The ruins came down in 1956. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nA pile of rubble remains. It was painted by Turner, visited by George Burrows and inspired Peacocks in Paradise by Elizabeth Eglais Jones. The famous monument by Chantrey in Hafod church survived the fire in 1932 but did not survive the fireman’s hose: the coolness of the water caused the hot monument to irreparably crack and crumble.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nMuch has been written about Hafod. I moved to one of the lodge houses in 1989 when I was 17 years old. At about the same time I purchased my first camera and began innocently to document the landscape around me. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nI have chosen the landscape of Hafod many times but as unpredictable and beautiful as it is, it can be a frustrating photographic experience. For this I am partially thankful, since I live here I can appreciate the landscape and history without the worry that I have let myself down creatively.<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[4347160]=new photo(4347160,"227143","","gallery","scan0006_7CA1E339-2219-B5B5-4CCDB4C3347F1C3E.jpg",600,470,"Nash Point, Glamorgan 2009",0,0,"Unfortunately I had mis- timed my visit to South Wales in March 2009.  The sunrise was early at around 5.30am but low tide was approximately at mid day and midnight.  It would be preferable to have sunrise and low-tide at the same time.  Nonetheless these images of rock formations and bedrock are good examples of dramatic lighting techniques.  A full morning was spent here and many of these images were used without a tripod, by merely resting the camera carefully on the ground and weighing it down so there was as little movement as possible when loading/removing darkslides and exposing the film.  ","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3854103]=new photo(3854103,"227143","","gallery","scan0003_7CA118A7-2219-B5B5-4C0FA149754CFAE6.jpg",600,475,"Pontrhydygroes, Ceredigion 2007",0,0,"A rusted and half buried lorry hidden away in the undergrowth near to Lower Lodge on the Hafod Estate.  I can remember visiting friends of my parents in the Llwynpiod area of Tregaron in the mid 1980's and these particular friends had a field at the rear of their house with approximately 30 - 40 old 1950's cars all left rusting, parked neatly beside one another.  I wish i had thought of these old cars years ago since, after a quick check on Google earth reveal that the field they sat in is now empty.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[5024096]=new photo(5024096,"227144","","gallery","scan0002.jpg",600,465,"Chapel, before restoration, Nr Aberystywth, Ceredigion 2004(?)",0,0,"This small chapel with the tiny house built beside it lay derelict for many years.  It has now been restored; almost completely demolished and then rebuilt.  The date stone reads Beulah 1822.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[5461374]=new photo(5461374,"227144","","gallery","scan0043.jpg",600,450,"Chapel, Aberystwyth 2004",0,0,"This small chapel with the tiny house built beside it lay derelict for many years.  It has now been restored; almost completely demolished and then rebuilt.  The date stone reads Beulah 1822.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3717610]=new photo(3717610,"227144","","gallery","scan00301.jpg",506,400,"Ceulan Mill, Talybont, Ceredigion 2009",1,0,"Ceulan Mill, Talybont, Ceredigion 2004 and 2009<br>\r\n<br>\r\nOnce within the dimly lit ground floor, Ceulan Mill appears, as ones eyes adjust, an impregnable building with imposing machinery filling all three storeys to the brim with large heavy machinery, looms, and weaving frames, large wicker baskets of withered cones of wool.  Ceulan Mill was closed in the 1950’s and it feels like very little has changed within and without the stone walls since then.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nOn the first floor, only three small windows allowing the sun light in, the floor space is heavy with solid machinery.  It is dark and when surrounded with such heavy machinery crammed so close together it is also unnerving.  The dimness makes the focussing of the camera difficult; I use a small touch to set the shutter speeds and aperture.  A forty-minute exposure was used with these first initial exposures.  A long wait for a photographer and gives me time to make notes.  I feel calm and the still atmosphere helps me to relax.  Outside I hear a babbling brook, birds singing, the day is bright, warm and spring-like.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nThese rusty dinosaurs within this mill no longer creak, groan, growl.  They’re silent and still, their only movement is that of their slow corrosion.  My eyes have long since grown accustomed to the dimness.  The machinery is splendid – wheels, cogs, belts, gears, pulley’s, springs, rods, rollers, spinners, presses, chains, oil, wool, spanners, wrenches, dust and cobwebs.  A stuffed heron lays on the ground on the first floor and also; a metal chest full of 19th & 20th century books (on Stalin, India, Arithmetic, Philosophy, Chemistry, Law, Communism, worker’s rights and how to better oneself!).  More large baskets, clamps, drawing desks, broken chairs, tables, chests, all stand on an uneven floor and under a sagging ceiling.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nThe sun poured through the open windows on the first floor, flooding tiny areas and here the exposures were much shorter, usually around  4 - 16 minutes.  Four hours was spend making around ten exposures onto sheet film.  The slow process of photographing in such dark places makes the finishing images so much more satisfying.      <br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3920621]=new photo(3920621,"227144","","gallery","scan0015_9CDFE4A4-1D09-001F-9913EF74F2DB5407.jpg",600,478,"Empty House, Nr Aberystwyth 2002",0,0,"Someone, the owner(?) had left this usual still-life composition within this tiny cottage.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3718391]=new photo(3718391,"227144","","gallery","scan0058.jpg",600,439,"Tin Building, Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion 2003",1,1,"Tin Building, Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion 2003<br>\r\n<br>\r\nThis was taken on a warm sunny Sunday afternoon whilst riding home with my camera and tripod all attached onto my bicycle. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nThe two storey corrugated building appealed to me, even the windows are covered in transparent plastic sheets. A couple of daffodils near to the bottom right give the image a Welsh feel.<br>\r\n<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3775056]=new photo(3775056,"227137","","gallery","scan0010.jpg",600,459,"ISCOED, Ferryside, Carmarthenshire 1996",1,1,"Notes on ISCOED, Ferryside, Carmarthenshire 1996<br>\r\n<br>\r\nAfter a day searching for ruined houses, often unsuccessfully, on a hot Spring day, tired from driving and asking for numerous directions, I approached Iscoed late in the afternoon. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nIt glowed through the hedgerows, about half a mile from the roadside: a Georgian red brick block mansion overlooking Carmarthen bay. It was built in 1772 for a Sir William Mansel. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nThe owner was pleased I took interest in the house, he had renovated one wing and seemed to genuinely care about Iscoed to which fate has dealt kind and unkind hands. It briefly served as Council Flats after WW2 but after listing status was refused in the late 1950’s, permission to demolish was granted but miraculously the house survived, outliving the owner who wished to demolish. <br>\r\n<br>\r\nAs seen here: it still remains a viable option for restoration. There is a small swimming pool in the courtyard between the two wings at the rear.<br>\r\n<br>\r\n__________________________<br>\r\n<br>\r\n<a target=”_blank” href=\"http://www.welshruins.co.uk\">click here for a full selection of mansion photographs<em><strong>'GRAND DECLINES: THE  DERELICT MANSIONS OF WALES 1995 - 2009' – www.welshruins.co.uk</strong></em></a><br>\r\n<br>\r\n__________________________<br>\r\n<br>\r\n<br>\r\n<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[5461386]=new photo(5461386,"227136","","gallery","scan0017_9CED4294-1D09-001F-998F40B5A7844E63.jpg",461,600,"Abstraction, Wales 2001",0,0,"This is a pleasing image for me yet it falls into a very unusual category.  I can not remember where it was taken!  This may have been taken in a ruined farmstead at the rear of my parents house at Hafod and a few miles from Devil’s Bridge.  Of the thousands of photographs I have taken, from a few blades of grass in heavy snowfall to cloud studies I can always remember when and where an image was taken.  This is an exception.  It is, or more to the point I am, redeemed by its very simple composition.  I used to believe that a good abstraction should be able to be viewed from any angle and this is a fine example of that.  I have however chosen the angle that I prefer.  I do not necessarily believe that an abstraction needs to look like something but this photograph suggests a road leading to some snow capped mountains.  I must confess I doubted if this was intentional, unfortunately I can not remember for sure.  I do know that it was the simple elements on this worn wall that caught my eye; sparse, still and yet the pencil-looking marks are sweeping and free flowing.  It’s location is has no consequence.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[5461387]=new photo(5461387,"227136","","gallery","scan0029_9CF099BE-1D09-001F-993035F0253E6F33.jpg",600,473,"Borth, Ceredigion 2001",0,0,"A careless splatter and mess of paint on a wall?  This piece of graffiti i believe was a deliberate attempt to create a small piece of art work!  I was uncertain if I should have photographed this since i did not create it but then if it was no more than someone trying to clean their paint brush then why not try to create something other than what it is and photograph it?","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[1019927]=new photo(1019927,"227136","645","gallery","scan0130.jpg",600,450,"Wall, Carmarthen 1995",1,1,"This was taken in the carpark in the large tesco grounds at Carmarthen and is one of the very first abstractions i took with the work of Aaron Siskind in mind.  It shows a bitumen type surface which has been weathered and begun to peel off its cement surface.  There's also some man made grafitti scratched into the velvety surface.  A very pleasing image.<br>\r\nIn 1995 I discovered the work of Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan.  I was particularly impressed with the way Siskind flattened the perspective of his photographs and focussed his camera at confusing parts of a wall.  Yet within Siskind’s chaotic images lay an ordered and a simple array of compositional rules.<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3854059]=new photo(3854059,"227136","","gallery","scan0118.jpg",461,600,"Cwmystwyth Lead Mines, Ceredigion 1996",0,0,"Seeking abstractions in rural mid Wales can at times prove difficult but also when a suitable wall is found, rewarding.  Fortunately, there are many ruined houses, farms and industrial buildings which may not always be easy to enter.  When possible they often contain walls covered in blistered paint or peeled wallpaper.  Often there is very little natural light and since I do not use flash photography exposures can vary from a few seconds up to a few hours.  These long exposures allow me to become acquainted with these empty properties, their crumbling and damp walls and whilst the film is exposed to the subject I can settle into the moment and become calm within the buildings atmosphere.<br>\r\n","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[5408699]=new photo(5408699,"227136","","gallery","scan0079_5F3A3119-1D09-001F-99904E6F9D6BF569.jpg",477,600,"Abstraction, Brighton 2008",0,0,"A number of images here were taken at the majestic and ruined cement works between Shoreham and Upper Beeding.  I passed these buildings very day for a year in 2007 when I worked at Small Dole.  I have made a number of exposures of the buildings themselves but found far more rewarding the weathered and graffiti walls inside.  <br>\r\n<br>\r\nNote on Brighton Abstractions: Between 2005 and 2010 I have lived in Brighton, with many and as frequent as possible, trips to Wales to photograph mansions and landscape.  During my time in Brighton I have on some level felt somewhat starved from the open land that mid Wales has in abundance and, therefore, also photographing.  I have however all but completed a project of Brighton architecture, architecture that I found pleasing to my eye rather than follow any strict period or style, and these images were exhibited at Brighton Museum in the winter of 2008/2009.  I have also photographed abstractions found anywhere from walls in busy streets or in empty buildings.  I do not necessarily consider my Brighton abstractions wholly successful but have included them here because although I do not consider them on a par with earlier abstractions they must somehow, hopefully, offer some personal progression in this chosen field.","","","","","",4436,1);backgrounds[3905342]=new photo(3905342,"237202","","gallery","scan01531.jpg",600,450,"Industrial Facade, Nottingham 1996",1,1,"","","","","","",4436,1);