It’s the time of year when people and media outlets look back over the last 12 months. With 2015’s allotment of months nearly all used up, here’s Part One of a Composed Images year review across a number of sometimes quite randomly selected images. For the first of two posts, here’s January to June. (Where noted or watermarked, images remain copyrighted to the respective agencies for whom I was working).
January
As has been widely documented, 2015 was bookended by almost incomprehensible tragedy in Paris. January saw the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in the French capital, and an immediate outpouring of grief, anger, defiance and tributes. In Cardiff there was a well-attended vigil at the National Assembly for Wales Senedd building in Cardiff Bay.
Equally sombre was the Holocaust memorial day and service held at Cardiff City Hall.
In a more cheerful sport story, Cardiff City made a return to their traditional blue kit from the much maligned red kit introduced by the club’s Malaysian owners, to the joy of the fans. They will always be blue.
As will plenty of other clubs, including Chelsea. An apparently unstoppable Chelsea visited Swansea City, demolishing their hosts 0-5 in one of the most ruthlessly complete performances I saw all season. What a difference 12 months can make, as the West London side now hover just above the relegation places and manager Jose Mourinho has just been sacked.
February
In February I took a slippery early morning hike up a magical, snowy Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons of South Wales to see the sunrise.
Sadly there wasn’t all that much of a sunrise, but it was still impressive.
Back over the Severn Bridge, I captured a little of the annual Wyedean Rally held in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, before heading off to photograph a Cheltenham Town match.
March
Spring arrived in March with new lambs and a much talked about lunar eclipse. Everyone wanted a piece of it.
I also took a quick dash around the queue for Cardiff’s Comic Con at the Motorpoint Arena and sought out alternative angles at a confined press conference of Wales footballers, following a training session.
St David’s Day celebrations in Cardiff were as colourful as ever, and there was chance to grab a look at the next generation of Wales football stars with an Under 21 match at Cardiff City Stadium.
Most memorable though was covering the final training of Wales Air Ambulance medical professionals. You’re rarely able to appreciate such work at such close quarters, and this offered a remarkable and quite humbling insight into their work.
Credit should also go to the amputee actors who made the scenarios as realistic as possible.
See more about the training and work of Wales Air Ambulance in this blog post.
April
In April the local ducklings arrived, I had a dabble with wildfowl down at Cardiff Wetlands and with traffic in front of Cardiff Castle.
The FAW Youth Cup Final between Cardiff and Swansea was comprehensively won by Swansea’s youngsters.
May
The UK general election was covered from South Wales in May. I managed to get around a number of the region’s Polling Stations, and saw Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood cast her vote at Penygraig in the Rhondda. More in a dedicated general election blog post here.
By way of contrast to small Welsh valleys’ towns, shortly after I took an exploratory early morning stroll of the resplendent streets of Oxford.
There were also visits to a huge Swansea construction site, the home of a home schooling blogger, and a rainy VE Day commemoration service at Cardiff Castle.
June
June saw a lot of sport. From bicycles and extreme sailing, to an extremely memorable Wales football performance, as they beat Belgium 1-0 in Cardiff, smoothing their path towards Euro 2016 qualification thanks in no small part to one Gareth Bale.
There was also a surprise 50th birthday party and a launch event at Cardiff Bay’s Pierhead Building for SSCE Cymru.
July to December in the next post.
If you’re seeking any photography coverage in 2016, please get in touch.
Comment
[…] of 2015, here’s my pick of my pics from July to December… If you need a quick catch up of January to June, nip off here, then come […]