St Fagans 2011

On Saturday 26th February, it was decided that St Fagans was the perfect location for this amateur photographer to break in her new dSLR. Blessed with good company and great weather, (or should that be great company and good weather?) off we jolly trot.

The scenic beauty that awaited us was like nothing one would expect in the modern world, let alone ten minutes from the city of Cardiff. It was like stepping back in time. We were greeted by little wooden houses, complete with smoky chimneys and thatched roofs, a friendly farmyard cat and the history of the Welsh people at our fingertips. An authentic old fashioned sweet shop, seemed to be at the center of a bizarre village, with houses that stepped through time. You could travel from the Victorian period, through the wars and up to modern day in the space of one street.

My favourite place of all was the castle, or more particularly the perfectly kept castle gardens. This provided many photo opportunities, especially around the duck pond.

My task for the day was to take all my photos on manual settings, or at least using the macros, staying away from the automatic switch. Armed with nothing but my Canon 550D, a friends telescopic lens, and just wits about me, I set about completing my task. I thought I'd share a few of my photos here. These are my favourites.

The Castles across the river

This little fellow followed us around

The duck pond

experimenting with shutter speeds

slow shutter speed

 

Otto the dog

All in all it was a fabulous day. The walk is long but well worth it. Certainly a great day out in the fresh air, something the whole family can enjoy.

If you would like to see more of my photos from the day, check out my Facebook photo album.