GARN, Llandybie, Carmarthenshire 2020

Notes on GARN, Llandybie, Carmarthenshire 2020
Hidden away within a shallow group of trees Garn feels both long lost but perhaps not quite as long lost as first imagined. I crossed two or three fields, the first field had an oddly position three arched doored stable (see next set of images). The edge of the final field had a narrow hedged pathway, most likely the driveway to the ruined farmstead itself but now only passable for one person at a time.
The house sits low within the group of trees, roofless, mostly featureless. I could work out if this had a staircase rising with the chimney, quite possibly but equally possibly not! Around the rear are a number of outbuildings, well-built but time is slowly eating away at their structural integrity. The building immediately to the rear had a rounded corner and signs of a more recent mortar repair. I am untrained. I could not tell if this rounded corner had been built originally this way or had been repaired and rounded off at a later date. The other outbuildings were all overgrown and in poor state.
A number of images were taken all around the house. Long exposures of up to 30 seconds. The light hitting the subject slowly reaching the sensitive film.
On the map another possible ruin just a field away, Tir-Ifan but when I reached the spot where the house should have stood I could not find it. I think it had been demolished or it was out of sight within the wooded area which was covered in high and impassable brambles. It is my belief the house has gone judging by how perfectly flat the ground was where I thought the house should have stood.
Garn however still stands and my visit of around half an hour was calming and quiet. I sometimes do not fully appreciate my time at these sites. I am often preoccupied with capturing the best image possible rather than fully soak up the atmosphere. This is a shame since I believe if I could marry the atmosphere with the scientific aspects of capturing an image on film then I feel I would do my subject matter a greater service; that of respect and that would hopefully have a positive impact in the images I documented onto film. Garn was a reminder that I should not rush, I should look harder, heighten my senses and then think about capturing what I see (and feel) on to film.
Hidden away within a shallow group of trees Garn feels both long lost but perhaps not quite as long lost as first imagined. I crossed two or three fields, the first field had an oddly position three arched doored stable (see next set of images). The edge of the final field had a narrow hedged pathway, most likely the driveway to the ruined farmstead itself but now only passable for one person at a time.
The house sits low within the group of trees, roofless, mostly featureless. I could work out if this had a staircase rising with the chimney, quite possibly but equally possibly not! Around the rear are a number of outbuildings, well-built but time is slowly eating away at their structural integrity. The building immediately to the rear had a rounded corner and signs of a more recent mortar repair. I am untrained. I could not tell if this rounded corner had been built originally this way or had been repaired and rounded off at a later date. The other outbuildings were all overgrown and in poor state.
A number of images were taken all around the house. Long exposures of up to 30 seconds. The light hitting the subject slowly reaching the sensitive film.
On the map another possible ruin just a field away, Tir-Ifan but when I reached the spot where the house should have stood I could not find it. I think it had been demolished or it was out of sight within the wooded area which was covered in high and impassable brambles. It is my belief the house has gone judging by how perfectly flat the ground was where I thought the house should have stood.
Garn however still stands and my visit of around half an hour was calming and quiet. I sometimes do not fully appreciate my time at these sites. I am often preoccupied with capturing the best image possible rather than fully soak up the atmosphere. This is a shame since I believe if I could marry the atmosphere with the scientific aspects of capturing an image on film then I feel I would do my subject matter a greater service; that of respect and that would hopefully have a positive impact in the images I documented onto film. Garn was a reminder that I should not rush, I should look harder, heighten my senses and then think about capturing what I see (and feel) on to film.
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