It has been a while since I undertook any commercial work, after making a conscious decision to concentrate entirely on landscapes and gallery work. However when I was asked by Nant Gwrtheyrn to shoot some interiors and architectural shots of the new refurbishments, having spent seven months photographing the village and valley last year, it made absolute sense to take on this work.Of course it was also a great opportunity just to get back to Y Nant and to stay in the village once again. I was definitely concerned about what I was going to see there. I had fallen in love with Y Nant as a place of primitive accommodation and simple pleasures. Its wildness and remoteness was, and still is, its appeal for me. I had a griping anxiety that the new work would shatter my love for the place. So what was my response ?
It was great to see the scaffolding and fencing had gone from Trem y Mynydd, as the village externally at least looked almost identical to before. The windows in fact looked brilliant with their new olive green frames and the intense high pressure sodium lights have been removed from the exterior walls, unfortunately replaced by some equally horrible plastic-looking domes, - perhaps my only real disappointment about the exterior. The new light-posts along the lane are again too new looking for my taste and out of keeping with the age of the village. The actual lamps are very bright which ruined the beauty of the clear night sky I had experienced on previous occasions.
The interiors have been kept simple but well appointed, with high quality materials being used throughout. Leather seats and expensive beds furnish all the bedrooms, as well as desks and study lights. All rooms appear to have broadband connections. The bathrooms now have smart looking step-in showers and the energy system for the whole terrace is extremely efficient and economical, with all modern building technologies used to keep the houses warm and dry.
I guess if you were staying here for perhaps two weeks on a study course this hotel looking interior may give you more long term comfort than beforehand, but as an artist seeking portals to the past however, I still prefer the step-back-in-time primitive accommodation I enjoyed in the pre-refurbished village.
Little Café Meinir is now three times bigger! There is now a huge timber framed function-room with built-in bar and French doors, which open out onto a decked veranda. From here you get one of the top views from any eating/drinking establishment in North Wales! It's position is simply stunning, with sunsets over the Irish Sea all year round! Fortunately, from the outside, it doesn't look ridiculously big, so although it definitely reduces the view of the sea from the village somewhat, it is thankfully quite acceptable. When you think of the phenomenal setting, great food, superb interior and good beers on draft, this new venue will attract hundreds if not thousands more visitors a year for sure! Whilst excellent for the future of Y Nant, I just hope that the guaranteed increase in visitor numbers doesn't shatter the tranquillity the place has become renowned for, and indeed the one thing many travellers seek. Overall, I am very impressed with what has been carried out at Nant over the last few months and any niggles apart from overkill lighting are mostly minor and refer to aesthetic rather than function.
I was shattered by the end of the shoot but thankfully my ace little helpers, Cari and Alaw, daughters of CEO, Jim O Rourke, made the job not only easier but a lot more enjoyable :-) They scurried around carrying, moving, plugging and switching things, as well as brushing floors and tidying props. I will thank them once again here on-line!
Tech notes: I used the Canon 1DS Mk3 for this job, with the 17-40, simply because it was the only lens I had which was wide enough for some of the tiny rooms. Being a zoom it inevitably has some barrel distortion which is only generally noticeable with straight lines at the edges of the frame. Sometimes I switched to the 24-105 L for detail shots. The sensor seemed to handle difficult and varied lighting conditions very well. I was using ISO 100 most of the time and trying not to stop down beyond f11 wherever possible top retain micro definition. I would be interested in seeing a T&S 18mm for a job such as this though, in fact it would be good to see any 17 or 18mm PRIME lens without a pronounced convex front element preventing the use of filters :-( Lighting used; Arri Fresnal 2K, PB Redheads, Elinchrom Flash.
