Llanasa
Talacre is a village in Flintshire on the north coast of Wales in the community of Llanasa.
It is near Point of Ayr on the west side of the River Dee estuary and has a sandy beach with dunes with large holiday caravan parks adjacent. The hills of the Clwydian Range behind the village form the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd.
The Point of Ayr Lighthouse, also known as the Talacre Lighthouse, is a grade II listed building situated on the north coast of Wales, on the Point of Ayr, near the village of Talacre.
It was built in 1776 by a Trust of the Major, Recorder and Aldermen of Chester to warn ships entering between the Dee and the Mersey Estuary. It was eventually fell into disuse and was decommissioned in 1884. It is now a privately owned residential property.
There is a history of paranormal activity being recorded in and around Talacre Lighthouse. One incident noted by Wales Online involved the reported sighting of a person dressed in old fashioned work clothes standing on the balcony of the lighthouse itself. There were also reports of footprints in the sand leading to the building.
Psychics visiting the site on a separate occasion reported contact with a spirit called Raymond who was once a lighthouse man before dying of a fever.
Explore #3 - 17/06/17
0430, at the leaning lighthouse at Talacre, on my way to North Wales for a few days and I thought I may as well try and bag a sunrise on the way, initially I was thinking of Llyn Padarn but that would have meant bascially not going to bed at all, instead I chose this spot as it was closer.
Still at 0200, when the alarm went off the lighthouse wasn't the only thing leaning, and with snooze hit several times I was leaning towards a longer stay in bed... somehow I manged to get up and drive here, I only got here 10 mins before the colourful sky kicked off and had to leg it over the dunes and find a composition then set up, thankfully I was ready as it only lasted for around 5 minutes, there was no sunrise as such just this great glow which within minutes was fully snuffed out by cloud cover, I manged 2 or 3 shots here which I'm pleased with so it had been well worth getting up, including shooting LLandudno pier in perfect tidal conditions a little later at 6am.
As much as I love the Summer shooting sunrise in June isn't something I'll be rushing to do again unless it's out the front door of where I am staying! by late afternoon I was fit for nothing and needed a sleep, no chance of sunset today with it happening at quarter to ten..., roll on Winter sunrise times!
First time I've been with the camera!
The pathway leading through the sandunes to the Point of Ayre Lighthouse at Talacre, North Wales.
My website: Deep Mono Photography
Explore #2 - 29/07/17
Another image from the ridiculously early start at Talacre, North Wales, the bright pink sky only lasted a few minutes and was gradually replaced by deep blues, the remnants of it can be seen vanishing into the left hand corner of the frame.
The tide hadn't long since gone out so there were totally unspoiled, footprint free fresh patterns in the sand still with water in, making an ideal lead into the scene in the same direction as the wind / cloud movement, allowing the lighthouse to be positioned between both for the effect I wanted.
I'm not sure if this lighthouse is ever going to be done up but as you can see it's got a bit of a lean to it and is badly in need of a lick of paint with not much white remaining on it now! I titled the image to have a double meaning as it struck me that while I chose a long exposure to give me the look I wanted, the very long exposure time that the lighthouse has endured in all weathers has caused it to look the way it does too.
Another visit here with the tide in is on the cards for sunrise, but later in the year when the times are a little more sociable!
The first shot from an overnight shoot up to Anglesey for Comet Neowise (shots to follow) It would have been rude not to combine a Sunset and a Sunrise either side of the main event as it were.
I decided to shoot the delightfully 'wonky' leaning lighthouse on Talacre Beach, North Wales on the way, the light was great for a good 40 minutes here and was well worth stopping off, the low sun here catching the Marram grass...
The plants to the left of the frame caught my eye here as an ideal foregound to use, I'm informed it is called 'Sea Holly'
Portfolio of images on my own website here
A direct follow on from my last shot published on here - www.flickr.com/photos/pete37038/50144319997/in/photostream/ and so the image name was easy to choose :-) , this was shot about 30 minutes later with the sun just about to drop below the horizon I've managed to 'trap' it in the corner of the Lighthouse under the entrance steps.
With the tide being out (it was rapidly coming in at this point) you can get some fab textures on the beach here closer to the wonky lighthouse, just a case of working quickly here with the changing sky and tide, within 10 minutes all this foreground was totally underwater.
Probably the last one from here I'll post for a while so as not to flood the stream with images from the same spot, I headed off to Anglesey from here for an overnight shoot, I'll post the images from that up next.
I'm not sure why this Lighthouse leans so much, I mean I'm no architechtural guru or anything, but you would think that if you are going to plop a ruddy great bit of concrete and steel construction onto a wet sandy beach of all things, you might plan for the eventuality that it might not be the most steady of surfaces to build on.... I mean I was watching each image here like a hawk to check that my tripod hadn't sunk during the shot, nevermind a giant lighthouse lol
Have a great weekend :-)
Portfolio of images on my own website here
Having decided to cut my time short in Snowdonia due to poor weather, I looked for a potential stop off on the way home. I hadn't been to this part...
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Llanasa!
Most notably Alan Taylor, Pete Rowbottom and Graham Morris.