This one looks a little like a Japanese stone spirit to me.
I can remember building henges with my children when we visited beaches both in Pembrokeshire and Brittany. Even building a ‘replica’ of Stonehenge on Mwnt Beach. We always had to go that bit further. Sadly, I have no photos of that one. They were considerably larger than these though.
Both were on Poppit Sands.
These are small but I find them, and the industry behind them, very appealing. There is such a sense of achievement choosing the right stones, placing them just so, balancing others on top, shimming them with smaller ones if necessary. And they look just like the real thing when you get down to their level.
Then of course there is the real thing:
This is at Pentre Ifan which is labelled as a ‘must’ visit on all of the Pembrokeshire literature. The visitors book in the cottage had an item by a 12 year old “once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all“. Like Stonehenge, this one is fenced off in a pokey little field and has no real impact, particularly as it is only accessible by car so you are wondering WTF else to do 10 minutes after you’ve arrived.
We were lucky because nobody was there to start with and I was able to get some shots. Shortly afterwards, several families turned up and filled the place up having their photos taken under the stones, holding the stones, on the stones, shagging the stones. Why? Really, why?
Unfortunately, this is where I discovered, belatedly (after developing the film back home), that the Xenar lens on this Automat is prone to flare so the best shots have been relegated. Even with the hood religiously on. It could have been the yellow filter though, which I suspect was getting slightly smudged with fingerprints by then. I find when changing film on the Rolleiflexes, unless I remember to put the lens covers back on, I inadvertently touch the lens/filter while holding the camera (tis an upside down operation). I tend to hold it between my legs now.
And there were more. This was on Ceilwbr beach.
And of course it is all in context because the bluestones found at Stonehenge are alleged to come from here:
I can imagine the conversation… The good news and the bad news. Stonehenge is about 250km from the Preseli Hills and the wheel hadn’t been invented. Yes, it is an extraordinary feat of engineering to bring those huge rocks all that way but at what human cost? About 3000 years before trades unions and all in the name of some kind of religiosity. The shaman was stoned. He should have been stoned.
But paradoxically, it is one of the things that I like about the area. What intensity drove that project, who managed it, how did they achieve it in such an apparently insanely short timeframe? Cue the scary music: aliens.
All of these photos are from a batch of FP4+ developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 16 minutes. Rolleiflex Automat Model 4, yellow filter.
by skinnyvoice
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This is a really great post – captures the quiet spirit of the beach entirely, and the real imagination that it takes to build even the little ones
Great series. I like #3 & #4 best. The tones & composition in them are most appealing.
Thanks Martin. I’m deliberately using FP4+ at less than box-speed and developing accordingly to get the shadows and keep the highlights. Have you come across this arcania yet? It gives you so much more control, it is the other side of exposing the photo. If I took it into a lab I wouldn’t get the results
yep, composition is something you do in a unique way. you photograph every place as though it was somewhere people just that second left
I’m going to try this methods soon. I’ve a roll of FP4 left and will maybe try some Fomapan and use the stand developing methods. I only shoot 35mm and it doesn’t seem too popular with this format.
I prefer FP4+ rather than Fomapan 100 on 35mm. Now the sun is going you might want to try Tri-X which can be shot at anything between 200 and 6400! So you can work your magic with the developer. I personally didn’t get on too well with Foma 400 on 35mm but that might be because I was new to both the film and developing. I found it a bit of a dust magnet for some reason. I have some Foma 100 in 4×5 for the pinhole because it is exactly half the price of FP4+ so I can mess up the film loading and development and not worry too much!