Tag Archives: Cardigan Bay

New Quay: Boats and Ripples

Lockdown, Multimedia, Nostramus, Production, Steve-Spon, , , , ,

Drone Footage of New Quay Harbour a flotilla of Boats and cool ripples across Cardigan Bay.
New Quay Part Three of Three

Drone Footage of New Quay Harbour a flotilla of Boats and cool ripples across Cardigan Bay.

New Quay Part Three of Three

Drone Footage of New Quay Harbour a flotilla of Boats and cool ripples across Cardigan Bay. I ventured forth on a fine but sultry day in May down to the Quay at New Quay Harbour and my good friend Jon joined me to help spot as I flew around the harbour and adjoining areas. The red boat featured at the beginning usually sails with tourists who want a peak at the Dolphins and Porpoises that often visit the Sea here. It seemed to play to drone camera by performing a wee pirouette for us. As it circled in front of us, the ripples and reflections spiralled away in ever increasing circles as the boat finally returned to it’s moorings.

It was a slow lazy day and folk just coming out of the recent lockdowns were enjoying the warmth of the early summer after a particularly cold spring. So we let ‘Buzby’ my Mini 2 drone take a slow and peaceful glide capturing the serenity of a clam day in the harbour. The Haven Holiday camps with hundreds of self catering caravans were straddling the cliffs overlooking the bay and further on beyond the rocky Llanilla Point the ‘Small Quay’ know as ‘Cei Bach’ can just be made out.

This footage was taken before Part Two of the New Quay series so the red pleasure boat still had its service dinghy attached. It can be seen speeding away towards the end of part two. Just loved the ‘trippy’ mesmerising ripples on this, best watched on at least a 1080p screen with a decent sound for full effect.

Music “Dream Nebula” by Nostramus. I wanted something that would reflect the visual ripples and was set to start afresh on a new piece. But sometimes I play back my video footage whilst randomly setting a playlist of some of my recent music and see if anything pops out. Normally one plus one equals two, we all know that but the strangeness of these things sometimes the film and the sound combine to add a completely different atmosphere, which is what happened here. So “I made it so” to quote Piccard.

New Quay Harbour and Quay

Lockdown, Multimedia, Nostramus, Production, Steve-Spon, , , , ,

New Quay Drone Flight around Town Harbour and Quay
New Quay Part Two of Three

New Quay Drone Flight around Town Harbour and Quay

New Quay New Quay Part Two of Three

For this flight I called up Jon Murphy to aid spotting ‘Buzby’ my Mini 2 Drone as she flew around the Quay side, then over the harbour, returning along the beach or ‘Traeth’ as it is known in Welsh. New Quay’s correct Welsh name is ‘Ceinewydd’ which breaks down to ‘Cei’ = Quay and ‘Newydd’ = New.

The Quay is a popular hang out on nice days with many day trips available to book to tour up and down the coast but also to visit the wildlife including Dolphin’s and Porpoise’s which visit the area from time to time.

On this day the Sea was relatively calm, the flotilla of boats had moved out of the safety of the immediate harbour. Some of these boats are pleasure craft but others are fishing boats collecting fish for the nearby Fish Processing plant under the Headland. This plant tips back some of the fishy waste into the Sea which attracts the Dolphins and other wildlife. I had recently had a mishap with my drone and dropped it whilst getting out of the car, which upset the gimbal so it would no longer keep the horizon level. I had to consult the manufacturers for repair under my insurance policy. They returned a brand new drone and this was my first flight with this drone. There are a myriad of settings within the App that controls the drone and I hadn’t quite got them all set right again so my footage contained a lot of jerky movements and swift turning which for this film I had to edit out.

One passage flying along the Quay itself was so slow I ended speeding it up! So please forgive the old silent movies treatment effect, we thought it amusing, never let it be said that we don’t include humour. You can just see Jon and I as ‘Buzby’ fly’s over the Quay at the end. Music another clip from a new track called “Apogee” don’t ask~ I dare say a forthcoming presentation for release. Probably in a more developed form but we liked the way it floats over the footage.

One other part to the “New Quay” story will be posted shortly before we move on to other locations.

The New Quay Stone Circle?

Lockdown, Multimedia, Nostramus, Production, Steve-Spon, , ,

New-Quay-Headland and Stone Circle in Wales Cinematic Mini 2 footage
New Quay Part One of Three

New-Quay-Headland and Stone Circle in Wales Cinematic Mini 2 footage

NEW QUAY PART ONE Of THREE.

Not many people realize that there is a Stone Circle atop the New Quay Headland in Wales. This headland is an iconic feature on the coastal landscape and can be seen for dozens of miles along the coast.

Save for the odd coastal path wanderers and the farmer who works this field pretty much no one knows of this circle’s existence.

The day I took this footage, it was evening and the light was falling by the minute. The clifftop is rather a stiff climb, you certainly know it once at the top. After I got my breath back I found a suitable spot on the coast path and in the half hour or so I was flying , not a soul passed me I had the cliff top to myself and er the cows happily munching the grass. At first I didn’t see the circle, I had no idea of it’s existence and it is not noted in the Megalithic Portal or Julian Cope’s Modern Antiquarian. Looking at the circle it is too perfect and to me disappointingly but nonetheless the location and the spirit of place the ‘Genus Loci’ made it seem more than befitting that this headland needed a ‘crown’ of a stone circle. I guess someone in the recent past “made it so”

I only saw the circle while heading back from peering high over New Quay, it was only later that I realized that I was filming in 1080p rather than 4K. I often send ‘Buzby’ out and film in 1080p to reconnoitre first before switching to 4K to film a cinematic move. But the light was dropping fast, it was freezing cold (In May for goodness sake) . I had my second jab that day and although the side effects were no where nearly as bad as my first jab, I really felt the cold. So after this shot I headed back down the cliff and headed home. New Quay Part Two and Three will be based down by the ‘New’ Quay. I hope to release these over the next few days. The music is a clip from a little sonnet called ‘La Rogue Batterie’ set to an off space bass rhythm and a mood that expresses timelessness. Written and produced by Steve Spon for Nostramus, no doubt a sketch from a forthcoming release.