Easter Gallery

We're back from a couple of weeks away, first in Bristol, then our customary Easter week in mid-Wales. It's amazing how things can pile up during a fortnight's absence – things like unprocessed photographs, unread emails, and unpaid bills – especially when spending time in a couple of photogenic locations without access to my usual computer setup or, in Wales, the internet or even a strong and reliable phone signal. There's a lot to do and catch up with in the first few days back.

As it happens, Easter this year was nearly as late as it's possible for that very moveable feast to be (it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox [1]), pretty much an entire month later than last year, so even in the uplands of Wales most of the trees were already beyond the dormant and blossoming stages and opening leaves in that diversity of bright acid greens that only lasts for a few weeks before they converge on a more general range of subdued shades. Add to that a gentle mix of sunshine and mist, volatile clouds and the occasional heavy downpour, and you have a very characteristic spring palette.

So here are a few of the photographs I took while away, using three very small and portable cameras in parallel, plus my phone. The weather was variable, shall we say, but that's only to be expected at this "sunshine and showers" time of year. My main problem was the strong and blustery wind, which in high exposed spots would thrum the camera so that it felt like clutching a live thing, and which defeated any attempt to keep it steady, as well as shaking and vibrating anything not made of rock, or solidly nailed to something made of rock. I don't mind a certain softness in my images, but at times this was more like an intense form of "intentional camera movement", a photographic "technique" that seems mainly to be used by people who would rather be painters.

iPhone 12 mini:

Panasonic GM1:

Panasonic GM5:

Fuji X20:

You can see the power of the wind in that photo of a recumbent stone blowing away. Sorry, I'm being silly: it's actually floating in mid-air due to some druidic earth magick that has harnessed the power of several ley lines. Very impressive, guys, but I suspect that may be what's interfering with the phone signal.

1. Or possibly the last Sunday before the sell-by date of the Easter eggs that have been in the shops since February...