Exciting first day for the Llandovery schools

Pantycelyn Comprehensive and Ysgol Rhys Pritchard

It's one of the most rewarding parts of this project: the look on the children's faces when they open the boxes and get out their new cameras. This morning at Pantyceln Comprehensive in Llandovery, the students were excited and delighted. As usual, it didn't take long for them to work out how to use the cameras and with just the most basic instructions in how to hold the camera steady, they were busy practicing by taking pictures of other people in the class room. Of course, we'd had to make them wait a little while we explained what the project was all about; but that only built up the anticipation.



Above: Students and staff at Pantycelyn on day one

They followed instructions and took at least thirty photos indoors before going into the school grounds to take another fifty of the buildings, trees and other aspects of the landscape. We were lucky with the weather - it didn't rain. Viewing the kids' choices of their best three pictures of the morning, it was pleasing to know that they all had grasped the principles of the project and had produced some good work.

After lunch, we went to Ysgol Rhys Pritchard, which is the main feeder school for Pantycelyn. If anything, the children here were more excited about their new photography project. Even before they'd opened the boxes, their enthusiasm for the idea was a delight. Emphasising the need to take lots of pictures is one of the important elements of the work we do. The children need to have plenty of choices for the exhibition and they will learn from their mistakes more readily.



Above: The class at Ysgol Rhys Pritchard delighted with the new cameras

We all took plenty of pictures indoors, but when it came time to go outside, we found it was pouring with rain. The best we could do was to dodge the rain looking through open doors and even take photographs from under the equipment in the play area. Nevertheless, everybody had lots of fun. Lots of good pictures were taken and I'm certain we will be seeing a great exhibition in due course.

Next time, 24th January, will be the first field trip; so let's hope for good weather.

The Carmarthen schools enjoy their final field trips

Queen Elizabeth High go to the seaside

A fine morning greeted the students from QE High when we arrived at the beach in Ferryside. At the mouth of the Tywi River, we were opposite Llansteffan Castle, where two weeks before the children of Johnstown Junior School had visited. From this side of the estuary, the castle was very dramatic across the water and the village, church and big house made a number of nice scenes. The children were not slow in capturing these landscapes, together with many other possibilities in the shore itself with patterns and textures in the sand, flotsam and seaweed. The jetty and shoreside buildings provided other creative opportunities.



Above: Queen Eliizabeth High students and staff on Ferryside platform

One of Ferryside's significant features is, of course, the railway. The main line between Swansea and Carmarthen runs round the coast and up the Tywi estuary. The trains are quite frequent, though many do not stop here. Taking pictures of the trains, and the station from the footbridge and the platform gave our students some exciting shots. Before leaving, we all gathered on the platform in front of the signal box for the group picture. The exhibition is going to be wonderful, judging by the quality of the images we looked at back in school.


Johnstown Juniors in the formal garden of the Bishop's Palace

A short bus ride from Johnstown is the Bishop's Palace at Abergwili. Home now to the Carmarthen Museum, this fine building has beautiful grounds with mature trees, lawns and shrubberies. The first thing we did was to tour the gardens taking many photos of the magnificent trees in their late autumn finery and on the way making the most of details in the leaves, bark and fungi.



Above: Johnstown Juniors on the grand staircase at the Bishop's Palace Abergwili

Completing the circuit, we made the most of the curators' invitation and spent the rest of our time in the museum itself, enjoying the displays of the history and archaeology of our great county. There was much to see, ranging from mineral samples, through paintings to the great stone frieze depicting the death of General Picton at the Battle of Waterloo. We were allowed to take pictures inside, but not with the flash on our cameras, due to the bad effect that bright light can have on some of the exhibits. It was a real treat for the kids to get this opportunity and thanks are due to the staff at the Bishop' Palace for their hospitality.


Next year

This was the last field trip for the two Carmarthen schools in this part of the project. When we resume in January, we will undertake the three classroom sessions, learning about downloading images, making folders and choosing and naming pictures. This will start on the nineteenth of the month. Prior to that, on the tenth, we begin work in the last two schools in the project, Pantycelyn Comprehensive and Rhys Pritchard juniors, both in Llandovery.

A great day out for the Carmarthen schools

Queen Elizabeth High visit Gwili Railway

We had a lovely morning with the students visiting the Gwili railway at Bronwydd. The weather was fine and the light excellent for photography when we rolled up to be greeted by volunteers at the station yard. The yard was a good place to start and we took lots of pictures of the rolling stock before making our way to the signal box, where everybody except wheelchair users were able to climb the steps and see all the levers working and observe the work going on outside on the rails by the road crossing. Next, we crossed the line and went onto the station platform, which gave new perspectives and lots of photo opportunities for the kids. The enthusiasm for the assignment was a joy to see.



Above: QE High in front of Haulwen at Gwili Railway

Back over the line and to the engines themselves, we were give a guided tour and were able to get shots of both the machines and all the fascinating details of massive wheels, pistons, boilers being refurbished and lots of other railway items. Finally, we got to stand next to the lovely 'Haulwen' saddle tank engine, which was fired up especially for us. Here we were dwarfed by the machine for the group shot. There is no doubt that the students were inspired by the visit to take many excellent pictures, as was evident from the one-to-one sessions viewing the work back in school.

A huge thanks to the staff and volunteers at Gwili Railway!


Johnstown Juniors and Llansteffan Castle

What a castle! And so close to Johnstown. A short journey in the bus took us to the village centre, where we walked up the lanes to the castle, taking pictures of the church, Plas, trees and landscapes on our way. After the final climb, we entered via the gatehouse and spent nearly and hour exploring and photographing the towers, walls and views. The castle's situation on a promontory at the mouth of the Tywi provides magnificent scenes of Carmarthen Bay, the sands of the estuary and across to Ferryside. We could have spent more time there, but before leaving, the group picture taken in the middle part of the Keep, demonstrates the kids' happiness at taking part in the project.



Above: Johnstown kids and staff at Llansteffan Castle

After the walk back to the village and more picture-taking, we boarded the bus back to school. Viewing the afternoon's best three shots from each child, it's obvious that they all have taken on the project with great enthusiasm and have produced superb work.

Swansea schools' photos in the Grand Theatre

Wow! Penyrheol and Penybryn schools end of project exhibition was a fine thing to see. On two floors of Swansea's Grand Theatre, there were hundreds of photographs to admire. Each student had visited four locations, which landscapes ranged from seasides through rivers to city parks, taking and average of 100 pictures each time. Not only were their ten best shots displayed on their own boards, but there were nine shots of each of the eight beauty spots they had visited. It took quite a time to absorb the quantity. The quality, on the other hand was immediately obvious. With no exceptions, each student had produced stunning images, many of which would not look amiss in the pages of magazines. Many of the visitors left comments like, "lovely photographs", "very impressed" and "what a delightful exhibition". Parents, teachers and visitors alike were captivated by this show.



Above: Pen-y-Bryn with their goody bags - and the Lord Mayor

What was also obvious was the children's pride in their achievements. This was no more apparent than when the Lord Mayor of Swansea, Councillor Richard Lewis, presented every pupil with a gift bag to commemorate their participation in the project. In the bag was a certificate, a framed copy of one of their best images and various 'freebies'. Later, they will receive a dvd containing all the work they have done throughout the project, portraits, group shots at the locations and, perhaps best of all, a picture of them with the Lord Mayor. After the speeches, the presentations and the photo calls, there was another kind of opportunity – a lovely buffet, with sandwiches, pies, pizzas and many other delights. It was also a nice to chat with his worship and to observe the pleasure on the kids' faces at other people's acknowledgements of their achievements.



Above: Peyrheol students together with Swansea's Lord Mayor

All this happened on the first day. The next and last day of the exhibition, we had lots of visitors, including some of the students who weren't able to come on the first day. It was another excellent culmination of two schools' participation in this project, one in which we are proud to be involved.

Wonderful light for the trips to Botanic Garden and Carmarthen

Queen Elizabeth High

What a wonderful day for photography! On our arrival at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Llanarthne, the sun was shining with that distinctive late autumn light. 'Golden' is sometimes used to describe it and we certainly made the most of it in the beautiful surroundings of Wales' own botanic garden. The trees were at their colourful best and there were a surprising number of plants in bloom, making the overall effect extremely attractive. There were landscape views, including the meadows, mature native trees and the stunning Great Glasshouse seeming to rise from the ground itself.



Above: QE High students relax in the Olive Grove of the National Botanic Garden of Wales

On the way up the meandering walk, the feature waterfalls, flower beds and rock beds illustrating Wales' geological history all made for endless subjects for photography. The students were fired up with enthusiasm and took hundreds of photos, snapping away at everything that took their fancy. Arriving at the glasshouse, there were many more photo opportunities, both outside the building, with the dramatic landscapes, and inside, the huge range of world wide Mediterranean type plants. We made our way to the central area known as the Olive Grove and had a fun time having the group shots taken. Later, back in school, there were many stunning shots to view when the children showed me their best three of the day.


Johnstown Juniors

It may not have been the exotic surroundings of the Botanic Garden, but the afternoon we had together taking photos of Carmarthen was a great experience for Johnstown Juniors. The weather was fine and clear as we arrived at the car park in front of the train station and our planned walk first took us to the platform where a train was waiting. Next, we walked to the old road bridge, stopping to photograph County Hall and the Towy Works building across the river. On the bridge itself, we were able to look downstream to the new foot bridge. The clouds were quite dramatic at this point, adding to the creative possibilities.



Above: Johnstown Juniors on Carmarthen's newest bridge

Crossing the road, we made for the vantage point that is the old castle. Not much remains of this medieval structure, but the Round Tower, the Square Tower, together with views of the Old Police Station and Gatehouse presented many captivating views. Looking back, were able to take in a large section of the valley. Completing the circuit, we walked to the new bridge, taking plenty of time to take pictures of the views of the town and the river in both directions. Here, we stopped and took the group shot. Looking at the work in the classroom, it's obvious we lots of talented photographers in the project.

Ysgol Penyrheol

It has been a very successful project with Penyrheol. In fact the students had got on so well with the final tasks that we were able to take time and have fun taking the last of the portraits and the group shots.



Above: Penyrheol pupils and staff having fun

We started a bit formally with everybody lined up a little tensely, but then as we relaxed more, the group interacted in amusing ways and we got some fine pictures. A sense of camaraderie has been a characteristic of this group from the beginning and the photos taken of them in this session reflect that.


Ysgol Penybryn

The students at Penybryn have done wonderfully well. All the classroom tasks have been completed and, apart from some detail work, what had to be done was to take everybody's portraits and to do the group shots. Very much like Penyrheol, the students here are very supportive of each other.



Above: Penybryn students and staff in relaxed mood at the end of the project

This quality was very helpful during the portrait taking, with several of the young people acting as facilitators, gathering in the others and helping with the names. Later, after we'd got the mug shots, there was more fun as they enjoyed the process of lining up, learning to relax in front of the camera and interacting in a natural way. The results were very good indeed.

Everybody is now looking forward to seeing their work at the exhibition in the plush surroundings of the Grand Theatre.

The Big Exhibition of both Swansea schools' work

Please note the following dates and place:

2nd of November, 12.30pm - Grand Theatre, Swansea: Presentation of gifts to all students by the Mayor of Swansea

3rd November, 9.00am to 5.00pm - Grand Theatre, Swansea: Exhibition open

Carmarthen schools have a great time on their first field trips

Queen Elizabeth High

The sun shone on our field trips today, and although there were a lot of logistical matters to sort before we could leave the school in two buses, it stayed fine all the time we were out. It was a relatively short trip to Carmarthen Park, but there was a lot there to photograph, including the Gorsedd Stones, the ornate Victorian bandstand, many trees and the unique cycling track. So we made the most of this opportunity, taking hundreds of pictures. It's fair to say that all the students enjoyed the experience and they took some terrific photos. Back in school, we got into the practice of looking through the day's work and choosing the best three, then showing them to me one at a time.



Above: QE High students and staff enjoying the sun at the Carmarthen bandstand

The habit of looking at all the session's images helps the budding photographers' confidence and, hopefully, the comments guide their future work. Judging by this day's collection, it's going to be a great exhibition.


Johnstown Juniors

What an enthusiastic group! It was difficult holding them back on this, our first field trip. On the way to Johnstown Park, we stopped off at the school's own garden and found some lovely subjects to photograph, including stunning close up shots of many kinds of foliage and even a large plastic frog. A short walk away is the park and playground with the small river running through it.



Above: Johnstown Juniors in the school garden

It is very interesting that in such a small area there can be so many photo opportunities. Two stones bridges, lots of river textures, several different trees and plants on the ground provided ample subjects for the children. We spent an enjoyable hour there. Back in school, it was a real treat to view the kids' best shots – so much creativity unleashed is such a short period. There's no doubt that this project has a beneficial effect on these children.

The Big Exhibition of both Swansea schools' work

Please note the following dates and place:

2nd of November, 12.30pm - Grand Theatre, Swansea: Presentation of gifts to all students by the Mayor of Swansea

3rd November, 9.00am to 5.00pm - Grand Theatre, Swansea: Exhibition open