Boxing Day Hunting & Racing

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

This morning to work off some of the Christmas food I headed over to my sister’s place of work, Venetia Williams Racing Yard, to photograph her and some of the other riders out on the gallops exercising the horses. Due to tiredness the night before I didn’t have proper directions so crossed the river wye multiple times while my satnav kept changing its mind on where it wanted me to go (turns out it thought I should be in the middle of the river!) but I did manage to get there in time, though due to it being winter did struggle with the light at 8am as the sun had not risen by this point! It was nice to do another type of equestrian photography, though it would be nice at some point to get to take photos of pointing at an event with jumps rather than just on the flat at training. After two rides out had been completed I departed to the regular boxing day hunt meet in Ledbury town centre where my parents were riding and it was wonderful to see so many people out on horseback and on foot. Read the full article…

Walking up Pen Y Fan

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

This weekend I headed up to the Brecon Beacons with the expedition society at my university for a weekend. It is always a really fun weekend as after the walk on the Saturday we have a Christmas dinner, this year we cooked for 40 people! The weather on the Saturday was a superb winter day with mostly clear skies, sun and a sprinkling of snow on the higher slopes of the mountain. Pen Y Fan is a mountain I climb all the time due to it being under hour from home in Bristol, but I normally climb it from the other side so it was nice to do it a different way as we walked in a loop which started and finished at the Youth Hostel we were staying at. This meant we went up from the Storey Arms and then back down another ridge on the same side of the mountain, which also had the advantage that we were sheltered from the very strong and cold wind that we were hit when we joined the ridge which went up to the summit! Due to the great weather conditions the views from. Read the full article…

Mountaineering in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyLandscape, North Wales, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

This weekend I headed up to Snowdonia with the expedition society I am a member of. We went up with twenty people and braved the elements by camping in north wales at the end of November which was a tad chilly. Thankfully we were treated with good weather and it didn’t rain once all weekend which is a change to the last 3 weekends I have spent in Snowdonia! On the first morning we headed up the north ridge of Tryfan which is one of the classic scrambles of the region and is a great first scramble as many people in the group had never done it before! It took us quite a long time as 20 people move slowly but this ended up being good as early in the climb the summit became covered in hill fog but by the time we got to the summit it had started to clear and by the time we had finished lunch we were treated to a fantastic view! That evening we were treated to a cloudless sky which was stunning as we were camping in the middle of nowhere so there. Read the full article…

Burning Tar Barrels at Ottery St Mary

Alastair BegleyGeneral Short Link

This evening it was bonfire night again which meant it was time for my fourth trip to Ottery St Mary on the 5th November. At Ottery they celebrate the event by covering huge barrels with tar, setting fire to them and running down the streets which are crowded with locals and students. It is an event that I have no idea how it still happens with all the health and safety which controls everything else so tightly, but it is great fun and it will be odd possibly not going to it next year as I will have graduated. It is always a challenge to get photos at this event as there are so many people getting a view of the barrel without people in the way is only possible when it gets incredibly close to you so you have to get a photo before you get hit by a burning barrel and often there are then too many people to get out of the way! This year on the final barrel was busier than I have seen it in the past and moving out of the way was extremely difficult and I managed. Read the full article…

North Herefordshire Hunt Opening Meet 2011

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

This weekend I headed up to Herefordshire with David for the North Herefordshire Hunt’s Opening Meet. Hunting is something that I want to photograph more often but finding time is always very difficult and I live a long way away from Herefordshire which is where I used to hunt so know the countryside well and the people who hunt there so it’s ideal for going and taking photos as hunts are very suspicious of new people turning up with cameras. It is only the second time I have attempted to take photos of Hunting and last time was in an area of countryside I was not familiar with so spent most of the day driving around completely lost, but this time as I knew the countryside very well we spent the whole day on foot with a good idea of where the hunt was going to go next. This proved to be very tiring as we covered around 7 miles over hilly terrain while carrying heavy camera gear and quite a lot of the distance was done at a sprint to get ahead of the hunt for the jumps. Towards the start of the. Read the full article…

RAF flying low level in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

This week I headed up to the “Mach Loop” in Snowdonia to take pictures of the RAF practising their low level flying, it had been 15 months since I was last there due to work levels over the past year and 12 months since I last went to a lowfly area. The trip was cut short by a day at the start of the week and a day at the end of the week due to the awful welsh weather, the weather however while we were in the hills was ok good with not much rain though mainly overcast skies and lots of wind! There was so much wind at times standing up was difficult. The traffic was a little slow on all of the days and was mainly hawks this was due to RAF valley being on nights this week and 3 squadrons of Tornado GR4s overseas on training or operational duties. On the first day we were still being battered by really strong winds which made it difficult to stand up at times and was very cold, though at times the sun was out. I was expecting to blank due to the. Read the full article…

Pontispool Horse Trials

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

Recently I headed down to Pontispool Horse Trials to see my sister, Katherine Begley, eventing due to the wind delaying my other plans for the week. To say it was breezy would be an understatement with the remains of Hurricane Katia hitting the UK. Other than the wind it was a pleasant day without any rain and even some sunny spells. It will unfortunately now probably be my last event of the season due to heading back to university and the season coming to a close anyway. Due to the wind my sisters horse, George, was looking fairly wild before the dressage and this was unfortunately reflected in the test, though the mark given could have been worse as the score given was 41. A quick tack change and it was on to the show jumping where it was so windy that the planks had to be held on in the arena until the rider had jumped the previous fence and Katherine is still getting to know her new horse and had 3 down. It was then on to the final phase, the cross country which is my favourite phase so I went off to the furthest side. Read the full article…

Somerford Park Horse Trials

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

Today I headed up to Cheshire to take pictures of my sister, Katherine Begley, competing at Somerford Park. She was competing at Intermediate level and this was her first intermediate since getting her new horse, Gorgeous George IV. I have been to many events but few that ran as quickly as this one, once the dressage had been completed early it was straight onto the show jumping and then after that straight onto the cross country. It was lucky I had my lunch early before the dressage! I really struggled with the sun today as it was very harsh and I was not able to get into the positions I would have liked to cope with the harsh sunlight so there were some interesting shadows to deal with (typical Brit, complain when the sun isn’t out, complain when it is!). I have also decided that George is a difficult colour to photograph as I have now taken pictures of him twice and both time found it very hard to edit the photos, something I have never encountered before with other horses. The dressage went very well despite George sticking his tongue out for a. Read the full article…