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Welcome to the first of our monthly magazine
editions. Up to now we have been producing Photographers Resource weekly,
but from this edition we have gone monthly, so that we are able to undertake and complete
far larger feature projects and give greater depth to our photography
coverage. Photographers Resource now comes out the last day of each month,
so remember as the month changes that it's time to come and see your
NEW FREE magazine edition here. We now have a plan for the next twelve
months editions, with a major topic theme and photographic theme in each
one. You will also start to see NEW regular features such as the one
this month that looks in more detail at what the wildlife photographer can
photograph in April. Weekly editions gave us several problems, including that we wanted to get more coverage on major topics than we could undertake in a week, the editions were at times completely on a topic so if you weren't interested in that, then there wasn't anything for you and we had a problem completing many weeks so smaller articles on other topics just could not get done. We also had a problem in fitting in all those trips we make to visit places, take photographs and produce location guides, and monthly editions make this at least in theory, far easier. What you will find is that the monthly edition has as much in as we produced over a month, but items covered are more varied and completed in each edition. Building on what we already have this will go from strength to strength. This month we have:-
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If this is your first
visit or you haven't visited for a while, perhaps it would help if I told you that everything
that has appeared in any newsletter/magazine and a lot more reference information is
all indexed, so its easy to find. You can find information within the
Topic
Index,
a geographic index by county
(County
Index) or in an alphabetical index
(Alpha Index), plus we
have a growing number of specialist sections as well. All our links have
symbols by them showing you what you will get if you click on them,
included are
=
featured location guides,
=
location guide,
=
quick guide,
=
route or area guide, 
=
list,
=
articles,
=
a section or a part of the website system 
=
picture galleries and
= external
links to other websites. If you put a mouse pointer over any symbol you get
to see what is means and if you click on any you get to see a full list.
With this edition we have a also introduced a new one AF = advertising feature. This is used for articles that have been written by or for someone to promote their services. These pages also have a unique green border, but we don't have any yet, so this is for future development.
Another new graphic is a Gallery button,
this when it appears in a Location Guide or in articles you may guess
will take you directly to a gallery illustrating this place or
technique, and these galleries have links to get you back again.
We introduced the first galleries in the
special edition on Ghana a few months back, and these are in the
Ghana
portal
and
although we added the galleries button a few weeks back, this edition is the
first to have galleries from the main site. With all our galleries you can
go forward or backwards through the images, jump to one or more pages with
large thumbnails and by clicking in any thumbnail jump back into the
galleries at that point. Most of you will find that if you press F11 on your
keyboard that it toggles the size of your top browser area, allowing you to
see more on the screen, clicking F11 again will put it back to normal.
Another new feature are doorways, these are
similar to the sections but allow us to create a simple address and having
introduced the topic, drop them direct into the sections frame set. This is for people
and websites with specific interests to allow direct access. Each
doorway has, in effect, a new entrance to Photographers Resource, just for
people who have an interest in a subset of information, of course they can
still access all the other content as well. You can see some of these shown
directly from our home page,
soon we will have far more of these and have a number of ways for people to
get the links, including from a page of the sections index and from the
Link to us pages, that come off the bottom of most pages. If you want to see a
doorway take a look at the castle doorway
or pinhole photography doorway
Editorial - Magazine or Newsletter
Are we a magazine or a newsletter or a website ?
The whole edition that comes out now each month is a magazine, and this is what we have been producing for well over a year but up to now weekly. Within the magazine we always have a newsletter, this page in this edition, its what tells you what is added and links together the articles and other information to make it easier for you to use, and we hope, create interest in some of the subjects covered so that you feel you want to explore the articles and other information more. We also, in some cases, cover news items or short pieces of information in the newsletter, but as its the exception to our normal rule that everything is fully indexed, we try and avoid having information just in the newsletter that you may want to find again at a later date.
If you compare Photographers Resource with a printed magazine, you will see we have a number of differences. As you can't flick through a website, like you can a printed magazine, we use the newsletter to show you what is included, and we are not limited to a set size like a printed magazine, so can put in extensive lists and other information that a printed magazine would not have room for. If you were to print out everything in this edition then you would have several times the volume that would fit into a printed magazine. The other major difference is that a printed magazine edition stands alone, while our editions are part of the whole, by this we mean we can cover one topic and hyperlink previous articles or places featured, so that the more we cover the larger the resource collection that can be accessed. We also fully index our content in a range of ways, with new sections, direct access doorways and more, allowing different people to access directly sub sets of what we have as well as using the whole. So you could think of it as a magazine that is growing into an ever expanding encyclopaedia. We are also part of the web community, so we have links to other resources, particularly within our location guides, lists and further information pages, but we also have several sections that index largely other contents elsewhere including the reference section and to a degree the Photographers Diary where we identify what is on and when, and tell you where to then go for further information.
So the
- Newsletter is what allows you to see what's been added, and see new content and information that is particularly relevant to you now.
- Magazine is the whole edition, newsletter, articles, lists, location guides, picture galleries, route guides, and photographers diary that come out each month.
- Photographers Resource is the overall encyclopaedic collection, that is fully indexed and accessible whenever you need it, constantly growing larger, and having more new tools and material types added.
- Travellers Resource, not yet launched will join onto this, and cover information on how to get to and stay at places, with Photographers Resource expanding to include location guides and information in portals relating to different countries, like we have already with the Ghana portal.
The answer to the question we started this editorial with is that we are all of these and more. What is more, it is free, and available to you anywhere you can access the internet.
Feature
Castles of Wales and the Marcher Lordships
Wales has more castles by area than any other
country, combined with the scenery, this provides photographers with some
spectacular opportunities. Our feature article, linking to a number of others, is
Castles of Wales.
Many of the larger castles came about at around the same time, either built for an English King or for the Marcher Lordships that were, at the time, between England and what was to later become the Welsh. The
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Wales that has been created recently has no historic significance, occupying parts of what was England and the Marcher Lordships rather than what was originally the Welsh areas. To make it as easy as possible we have produced our lists covering Wales and the Marcher Lordships, although a small number of these are over the border in England today.
To give you a little history to go with
this, explain how Wales became a part of England and its current path towards
becoming a separate country, as well as an explanation of the Marcher Lordships
and why there was a need for all these castles, we have an article
Wales - a potted history,
plus an article explaining the
Castles of Wales and the
Marcher Lordships.
This may raise more questions in your mind for example, why did English
Kings, including Edward I, conquer and then leave the welsh princes in positions of power, to
cause more trouble, why spend so much on building all the castles to keep these
people in check, when they could so easily have been replaced. An English Lord
would have been in the tower or lost his head. Ultimately this did end up being
the chosen solution, but why not sooner.
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In some
castle terminology explained
we look at the names of what some parts of the castle are called as well
as some castle types. While in
castles in use
we look at the development of the castle, how their use and needs changed
and why they fell into disrepair. In images
of castles from the past
we look at some representations we can see of castles at past points, some of
these images are available from this website, with more becoming available over
time. We show examples in this article of recent photos and images from just
over 100 years ago. There were probably a very large number of castles in
Wales, we have so far identified over 600, and of these well over 100 have
remains that you can visit and see. We have produced a number of listings one is a listing of the
most interesting and complete ones in the list
top castles in Wales and the
Marcher Lordships,
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sites exist, and gives you links to other places where the others are
mentioned or covered. If the name in the left column is hyperlinked then we also
have a location guides for that one as well. We have this available as both an
alpha listing
broken into pages and as a number of pages by county.
In both list types we have linked the location guides that we have produced so far, and this includes all of the highest graded castles in Wales on our top castles list. We have also produced picture galleries to go with 8 of them, and will add more over time. The intention is to have location guides for all of the castles on the shorter listing, plus some of the others and also as many picture galleries as we are able to. |
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Location guides we have available now for
castles in Wales and the Marcher Lordships are
Beaumaris Castle,
Bodelwyddan
Castle,
Caernarfon Castle,
Caerphilly Castle,
Caldicot
Castle,
Cardiff
Castle,
Castell Coch,
Chepstow
Castle,
Chirk Castle,
Conwy
Castle,
Criccieth
Castle,
Grosmont
Castle,
Harlech Castle,
Kidwelly Castle,
Pembroke Castle,
Penrhyn Castle,
Raglan
Castle,
Rhuddlan Castle,
Skenfrith Castle,
Tretower
Court and Castle,
White Castle,
plus we have galleries, selections of photographs in addition to the location
guides now for
Caernarfon Castle,
Caerphilly Castle,
Caldicot Castle,
Chepstow Castle,
Castle Coch,
Conwy Castle,
Harlech Castle,
Raglan Castle,
Grosmont Castle,
Skenfrith Castle,
Tretower
Court & Castle,
and
White Castle.
We have concentrated to start largely on those that are on the
welsh side of the current border.
To assist you when you want to photograph these
we have an article how
to photograph a castle.
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You will find in the topic section
under heritage, that we have already got quite a lot of location guides on
castles, earthworks and hill forts, so its likely we will have some near you. We
have another feature in development covering castles in England and at some
point we will also add the Scottish castles as well. We are still looking
forward to seeing some more of the castles in all the listings and so you will
get to see updates and extra ones as we progress. Take a look now at the
NEW castle section,
that links together all that is available now. Many of the welsh castles are managed by CADW, who have a poor website with little information on each, and handouts are not much better as they are written one way up in English and the other way in Welsh, so you have only half the area of other handouts for information. However they do have good guide books, written in a |
single language, available on most of their major properties, and when you visit one you are likely to find you can pick up a collection of the guide books for places you wish to visit. The Caerphilly Castle guide for example is 50 pages in colour throughout with a flip out plan, and illustrations that include exploded views, artists impressions and photographs, realistically you can't read them as you walk around, so getting hold of one before may make the visit more informative, as well as where there are pay and display car parks you will have a better idea how long you expect to be there.
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Entry to CADW sites is FREE to CADW members and English
Heritage members who have been a member for more than a year, English Heritage members
in their first year get a 50% discount. Entry is also free for Welsh residents aged 60 and
over or 16 and under who have a
valid pass.
You will find that CADW do a good job of both managing the sites and maintaining the properties and staff are helpful. This is a good time of year to visit these castles, even the most popular ones are not very busy at the moment, so you can, where you want to, get far more photographs without people in. Added to this is, roads have less traffic, easier parking, and where you are going up and down circular staircases in towers its far easier when you don't have to allow for others going the opposite way. |
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Red Kites, and where you can photograph them
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Red kites, became nearly extinct in
Britain, and have been supported with feeding stations in a number of areas, find
out more about Red Kites, where to photograph them and more in our article on
Red Kite
We have also produced a full
list of feeding stations and other locations that you may be able see kites in
Where
to Photograph Red Kites
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Experimental Photography
In the article
experimental photography,
we look at the benefits you can get from being curious, and doing your own
experiments. The experience that you gain from
experimenting makes the difference between a person who has to constantly
ask for assistance and the person who can give it.
Below we are looking in some depth, in this months photographic feature, at Pinhole Photography, with a range of the articles, having detailed experiments that you can duplicate, before deciding what additional ones you would like to try, and all we had to find to do this was a sheet of black card, some kitchen foil, a few elastic bands and some cellotape. It makes a change to find a branch of photography that has no cost involved.
Generally you will find experimental photography is not something that costs a great deal as you are frequently getting more out of what you have or looking at how to use items that you already have.
Photographic Feature
Pinhole Photography - yes you can do it with your DSLR
Pinhole cameras have been around for
over 2,000 years, probably twice that, used as a tool of the painter, and later to
take some early photographs. Today they are still used for some applications
and for artistic work, with photographers specialising in this area. In
the article pinhole cameras,
we examine this in far more depth, explain why they work, and more. In
the project article Pringle tube pinhole camera
we look at how you can make a demonstration of the pinhole effect in around 5
minutes.
In
a pinhole for your DSLR
we have a more useful project that shows in detail how you can take off the
lens of your DSLR and easily use it to take pinhole pictures. We
extend this further in the article using
a pinhole to get a zoom/wide angle effect.
Those of you who have had the benefit of attending the Camera Images Hands on a
Nikon training day will recognise the first few illustrations in this article, on
how you get a wide angle or telephoto one as the first they have seen on the
training day. In the article using
a pinhole to simulate the rising front on a camera
we look at the equivalent of a perspective correction lens, or raising the front
on an older camera.
In each of these articles we show you images we have taken without any lens being used as well as the in depth details of how we achieved them. This gives you all the information to allow you to undertake some experimental photography in this area.
Three further pinhole articles look
at pinholes that you can buy. In pinhole
Adaptor
we
look at a device that fits instead of your lens, in
pinholes
from the Pinhole Factory,
we look at pinholes that you can purchase to use in your own home-made
arrangements or experiments and in pinhole
kit Mk3 we look at using some of these pinholes in a
further project to make a more elaborate pinhole device to allow you a wider
range of experimenting or photography. Plus we have links and other information for those who want to go
on and study this
further in
pinhole cameras - further information.
This is all linked together in a new
Pinhole section,
that is a part of the photography section.
With World Pinhole Day on
the 26th of April, perhaps its a good time to take a fresh look at pinhole
effects and pinhole photography.
Pinhole
photographers are invited to take a picture with a pinhole camera during the 24
hours on that day and then submit it, see
World Pinhole Day
. We intend
to take part this year and next month hope to have a gallery to show you what we achieved.
Did you know NASA has, this year,
commissioned a pinhole camera of $3 billion. We mention this in the article on
pinhole cameras
,
while they have a large budget, you can have a go at pinhole photography with no
budget at all, and within most of our articles, looking at pinhole photography, we
restricted ourselves to doing just this, using what we had with only basically
stationary items needed. Even if you decide to buy a pinhole or an adaptor, it
will not cost you very much.
The Golden Stool
In Ghana there is a very special stool, known as
The Golden Stool.
It has a
history coming from a period that involves many elements that are similar
to the legends from the period of King Arthur and Merlin here, complete with a
sword that is in the ground and can still be seen today, and a wizard. Unlike
the British legends, the items still exist, and the item held in highest esteem
is the 'Golden Stool', that only the King of the Ashanti's can sit on, although usually
the stool itself has a chain. This stool is very rarely seen, unlike the sword
that can be visited by anyone. Every 5 years however its is shown at the
THE ADDAE KESE FESTIVAL,
which takes place this year on the 26th April. This year its a very special event,
larger than most with a large number of people in traditional costume.
It is very difficult to
find photographs of the Golden Stool, so this event provides the opportunity to
get some, as well as I am sure a great deal more. To see more on
Ghana or help with planning a trip there, see our
Ghana
portal
,
Slutch Tours,
Abacar Tours
or
Ghana tourism
.
Camera Images
also offer
a VIP experience, a week or more of 1 to 1 photography training, and escorted in
this very special country.
Other Location Guides
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well as all the castle location guides in this issue, we also have a
featured location guide on
Hodbarrow,
near Millom in Cumbria. Here you will find plenty to photograph including
two lighthouses, one of stone, which was built in 1866 and was paraffin
fuelled and the other built of steel in 1905 to replace the earlier was
electric. Hodbarrow Windmill standing high above Hodbarrow Point, was used
to pump water from the nearby pits, when the pumps were turned off in 1968
the area behind the Outer Barrier began to fill with water and now a 200
acre lagoon exists, which is rich in wildlife. During the winter months the
lagoon is home to between 5,000-10,000 wildfowl. One of Hodbarrow's big attractions is the
Natterjack Toad, this is a highly protected species, and care should be
taken to not distrub them. As well as this it is also surrounded by
fantastic scenery including the Duddon Estuary and
Black Combe fell at 1970' as a stunning backdrop, and the Coniston and Scafell
ranges can be seen in the distance, added to this the West Cumbrian Coast is
claimed to have some of the best sunsets of anywhere in the world, there are
landscapes and seascapes are a plenty. To find out more about and to see
some illustrations of what can be seen on a visit to this coastal location
see our location guide on
Hodbarrow.
Outer Barrier
Lighthouse by Trevor Kirk
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Some Great Offers
2 for 1 offer April special - 2 days
training 1 to 1, for the price of a single day Practical, Experimental and
Pinhole photography with
Camera Images.
In these two days you get to undertake
experimental photography, looking at pinhole photography experimenting with
depth of field and a number of other variables one day, and go out the second day
to do real photography, utilising a lot of what you have learnt, but using your
camera fairly normally. This is a special course that is not in their normal
programme. The second day could alternatively concentrate on wildlife
photography and gaining experience with very long lenses. To book COURSE PR1 just
call Camera Images or book online, but remember to pay
for one day instead of two, if you book within April. This course is a special
one for our readers, its not on their website. With this offer you can pay by
cheque or credit card online, but NOT training vouchers.
Free pair of NIKON 8x36 waterproof Binoculars,
if you book and pay for any 2 Masterclasses with
Photography Skills
and add code PR/PS1, if booked and paid for in the month of April. You don't have
to attend the Masterclass in April, you get the binoculars if you book and pay
for them within April. With this offer you can pay by cheque or credit card
online, but NOT training vouchers.
The Photographers Diary
The wheel of the year turns
again and we now show the photographers diary for April with the new page for
May as well. Highlights in April include the GWR
Spring Diesel Gala, this weekend 4th and 5th April. The
Blossom Trail runs from the 8th to 30th April, a car drive amongst the fruit
orchards between Evesham and Worcester. The World
Coal Carrying Championships at Gawthorpe, nr Wakefield in Yorkshire on the
13th, and the London Marathon on Sunday 26th.
In May the two bank holiday periods during this
month has a variety of different spectacles going on in all parts of the UK
including the
Weymouth International Beach Kite Festival and its International Firework
Display in Dorset or the Sweeps Festival in Rochester, Kent are held over the
weekend of 2nd-4th May,
Badminton Horse Trials takes place from 7th-10th,
National Mills Weekend, for getting a chance to see some of the Windmills in
action this year, is the 9th and 10th May, and don't forget to take a look at
our Windmill
section
to identify those you might want to visit. The Sealed Knot are putting on a
battle re-enactment at Loosely Park, Guildford, Surrey over the bank holiday
weekend of 23rd-25th May and of course the annual Cheese Rolling event in
Gloucestershire is around gain on the 25th May, take a look at our
Featured Guide
for details and pictures of previous years tumbles, and our article on how to go
about
photographing a cheese rolling event.
To see details of all these activities and more take a look now for all events of April and May by taking the The Month and Next Month buttons from the Photographers Diary button.
For the wildlife and nature photographer April is
an interesting month. We have an article looking at what may be able to be
seen at Wildlife
photography in April,
but don't overlook the Nature
and Wildlife calendar - April
which is in the photographers diary section. This is the first of what we plan
to add each month looking at what the nature and wildlife photographer can
photograph in the month ahead in detail.
Summary of Articles Included in this issue
Images of castles from the
past
Using a pinhole to simulate
the rising front on a camera
Using a pinhole to Get a zoom/wide
angle effect
Pinhole cameras
- further information
Top Welsh & Marcher Lordship Castles
Castles of
Wales & Marcher Lordships
Welsh County Lists for
Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey
Bodelwyddan
Castle,
Denbighshire
Caernarfon Castle,
Caernarfonshire
Caerphilly Castle, Glamorganshire
Caldicot
Castle,
Monmouthshire
Cardiff
Castle, Glamorgan
Castell Coch,
Glamorgan
Chepstow
Castle, Monmouthshire
Chirk Castle, Denbighshire
Conwy
Castle, Caernarfonshire
Criccieth
Castle, Caernarfonshire
Gigrin Farm
- Red Kite Feeding Station, Radnorshire
Grosmont
Castle, Monmouthshire
Harlech Castle,
Merioneth
Hodbarrow, Millom, Cumbria
Kidwelly Castle, Carmarthenshire
Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire
Penrhyn Castle, Caernarfonshire
Raglan
Castle, Monmouthshire
Rhuddlan Castle,
Denbighshire
Skenfrith Castle, Monmouthshire
Tretower
Court and Castle, Brecknockshire
White Castle, Monmouthshire
