Dinas Dinlle

Photos from a trip to the North West corner of Wales taking in Gwynedd, Anglesey and Snowdonia.

Dinas Dinlle is a small resort on the coast on the Irish Sea just south of Caernarfon airport.

There isn’t very much there, apart from a long sand and pebble beach, some houses, a couple of tearooms / cafes, toilets, holiday accommodation and a caravan park slightly inland.

This series is perhaps less about Dinas Dinlle and more about my liking for shores with waves, sands, pebbles and of course the light that is unique to the seaside. The wind was so strong that day it could nearly have blown me over. I had a struggle with my eyes watering in the wind as I was taking these photos.

In the image above the Llŷn Peninsula can be seen through the haze with its hills and mountains, Yr Eifl, Garn Boduan, Garn Fadrun and Mynydd Rhiw.

In the following image, I didn’t realise what it was at the time but the horizon is not crooked. Where possible, I make an effort to keep my horizons level, if not while shooting I usually correct it during post process. The uneven horizon is the profile of Anglesey in the distance, which may make the image look slightly tilted.

The anonymous strangers in the distance provide scale and humanity as well as focal point to the composition..

The drama of light and textures combined with the almost random raging waves with the ensuing patterns and colours are an indulgence of mine. A bit of pushing and pulling of the levels in Photoshop helps pull the “character” out of the originally more flat images, giving them slightly more “pop”.

Unlike the previous shots where the shore was pebbled, there is a smooth sandy beach when the tide recedes far enough.

There was a pleasant place to eat just opposite the car park at the shore. I cannot recall the name. I should have taken a photo or business card. The Google “street view” shows the previous state of the building so is no help on the matter. It may have been “Dinas Diner” and looks to have been recently tastefully renovated. It produced a very pleasant evening meal, not very up market but not shoddy either. I had a “Welsh Oggie” despite the waitress not knowing what I was attempting to order. I don’t think the issue was simply my accent. She didn’t know it was either despite it being on the “specials board”. Fortunately a fellow diner explained it to me. It turned out to be very similar to a Cornish Pasty or Forfar Bridie or a variant thereof, minced meaty stuff mixed up with some vegetables inside a folded pastry shell. It was very large and filling so I struggled to finish it but it was pleasant enough.

Apparently the area is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), although I’m not sure why. To me, almost any beach is interesting if the light is right, there is sufficient photographic subject matter and it is not heaving with people.

Please respect copyright.