June 2010 brought  the sad sad news of the death of the ex Stereophonics drummer and local hearo, Stuart Cable. I was in Aberdare to cover his funeral on what was one of the hottest and brightest days of the year so far. Over 5000 people attended the funeral and lined the streets of Aberdare . His coffin was carried out to the sound of AC/DC’ s back in black played by a band made up of his friends. Here are some pics from the funeral along with some a tearsheet from the Daily Star. The Photographs of Kelly Jones and of Rob Brydon in the Star are mine.

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After an early Saturday morning start it was time for a trip to mid Wales to cover this years Man V Horse event at Llanwrtyd Wellsin Powys. The event attracted well in exess of 200 runners and 50 horses and riders. The course is run over 22 miles in and around the footpaths lanes and rivers of the local countyside. This year Sly Dai, ridden by local girl Llinos Jones won the event, finishing some 10 minuites before Bristol based man Haggai Chepkwony. It’s safe to say I won’t be trying the marathon next year! Although I have to say I will be keeping a close eye on the Green Events Website. ( And by the way thanks ever so much to Bryn Celyn Guest house. Thanks for the tea and hob nobs! ) See you for the bog snorkelling !!!!!

The above photo appeared in the Sunday Telegraph on the 13th of June 2010.

Here are a few more for you to take look at.

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It’s been a few months now since being in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, taking photos of Rosie Swale Pope finishing her ‘ run ‘ of 26 marathons in 26 days. I took the main photograph of Rosie on the Cycle path between Llanelli & Burry Port and the inset photo was taken in Tenby, Pembrokeshire the following day when Rosie was celebrating her achievements by running a 27th marathon. The photographs appeared in Yours Magazine the beginning of June 2010.

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For those of you who don’t already know, last weekend I spent most of my time topping up my non existent  suntan on the world famous Pendine beach. Nothing special about that? Well, there was a couple of notable things going on there last weekend . Firstly ( and more importantly for pendine )they have finally decided to re-open the beach for cars. This is a massive deal for Pendine which became, through no fault of it’s own a bit of a ghost town since the council or whoever, decided that health and safety was becoming too much of an issue to allow people to drive their cars on the beach there. I’m really looking forward to getting the chance to parking  up on the sands again.

As I’m sure you know, Pendine has had links with motorsport and landspeed records for years, and last weekend was no exception. Don Wales, nephew of speed legend Donald Campbell and grandson of Sir Malcom Campell,  set the World record for the fastest lawnmower with a speed of 87.833 mph. I was lucky enough to be there to take photo’s on behalf of my agency. I got to do some fun things like ride in the back of the support vehicle at 90mph ( ouch ) and meet all of the crew involved with the record attempt.

The photo of Don Wales shows him  celebrating his achievement and was taken quite late on into the Saturday evening on the beach. It was used in the Sunday Times on the 30th of May 2010.

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With it being a fairly quiet end to the week so far with press  assignments & all the action happening around one street in London and nothing aside from maybe yet another new shop opening ( or moving ) in Carmarthen it was a good chance to gather some early morning stock and maybe the odd landscape while waiting for the day to unfold, and I have to say that coast road through Amroth  never disappoints. I was up at 4 and in Pembs within half an hour.

What a great way to start the day.

So if you get the chance and you find yourself on the Carmarthenshire / Pembrokeshire border go and take a look.

Oh, and by the way, Amroth was awarded blue flag status this week. It was  one of the beaches that made up this years record braking amount of  beaches to get the award.

After Amroth it was on to Saundersfoot for a cuppa before heading home for about 7.30 am

So all in all not a bad early morning sneak around Pembs .You may even find me sneaking around tomorrow..

Click on the images to make them nice & Big.

I’ll be adding these to the landscape gallery here before long, but if you would like to buy one in the mean time drop me an email.

Al

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Time to post a quick couple of pics from shoot from last week for the band ‘sleepy panda club’.

Now here’s a shoot that couldn’t have been closer to home even though the band has it’s roots spread from Carmarthen to Vancouver. However… the location was mostly my shed!. The original idea was to catch some cool evening light but as always things run on and so we ended up in darkness. But, I’m kind of glad really as it turned out well and it’s nice sometimes to use whats at hand.

The band are due to release an album or an EP soon. So keep an eye out. I’ve heard a few sneaky previews and it sounds good.

The band are hoping to use the images for press PR and their websites.

And as for me…. time to clean out that shed…. or maybe not!!!

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What a lovely day! When I woke up this morning it was all overcast and flat. The Kind of weather for taking macro shots of flowers.

As the afternoon went on the skies broke and I headed for Tenby to take some snaps to upload to stock sites. I had a few other goings on there that afternoon too but more on that later in the week i suspect
So the reason for this fairly pointless post was to share this beautiful blue boat sitting under a lovely blue sky ( try to ignore the threatening cloud in the top left hand corner if you can ) with you all.

It’s just nice not to be stuck in the house/office/car.

But if you are confined to any of the above….
I posted this just for you.

And if you like it that much that you feel the urge to buy a Canvas of it… drop me a line as I may do you a deal!!!

Speak soon,

Pob hwyl,

Al

oh, and see it super super massive big, give it a little click.

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Oedd hi’n Noson i’w gofio gyda  Dafydd Iwan, Jac y Do, Lleisiau’r Cwm, Côr Meibion Dyffryn Aman, Dawnswyr Penrhyd, Ysgol Gyfun Dyffryn Aman, a Chwmni Perfformio Plant ‘Sbarc’. Mae’r Llunaiu or nosweth i’w weld  fan hyn .

A night to remember with Dafydd Iwan, Jac y Do, Lleisiau’r Cwm, Côr Meibion Dyffryn Aman, Dawnswyr Penrhyd, Ysgol Gyfun Dyffryn Aman, and  Chwmni Perfformio Plant ‘Sbarc’. The Photographs from the evening can be viewed  here.

** This Gallery is password protected please email for details **

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Well…… what can I say!!

I’m posting this after being up most of the night backing up the files from yesterdays wedding.

What a fantastic day! I really enjoyed and thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome.

This photo is one of my faves so far…  The rest of the photos will appear in the gallery over the next dew days.

Congrats guys & see you soon!

Al

The Pics from the Reception can be seen here

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A late afternoon drive through the brecon beacons is exactly what i needed to chill out at the end of a lovely weekend. It was such a nice drive I  almost forgot to take a picture!!!!!! So all I have to show for it is a lazy roadside shot, I’m going to have to get up there again rather soon I think!

I have quite a few projects on the go this week so I hope to post them here for you to see soon, so keep checking back.

Laters!

Al

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