nature photography

Photographing the Coastline of Great Britain

In the summer of 2015 a small group of cyclists set off from Anglesey in North Wales for a 64 day journey, circumnavigating the coastline of Great Britain.  At the start of July the cyclists began their epic journey cycling the entire coastline of Wales, Scotland and England before finally arriving back at their starting point seven weeks later.  I was employed as photographer & social media manager, and in addition to capturing daily images of the riders I also documented the coastline and countryside as we travelled around.  Over the course of the 6,700 kilometre journey I took over 20,000 photographs.  Click through the first slideshow below for a look at some of the sights we saw along the way:

In addition to the cycling element the Countrywide Great Tour was also a celebration of the beautiful and varied coastline of England, Scotland and Wales.  With the cyclists always riding in sight, sound and smell of the sea we got to witness the beauty of Great Britain during the summertime.  

I wrote a previous blog on the Countrywide Great Tour of 2015 with a selection of cycling photos which can be viewed here.  In addition I posted a photo everyday to my Flickr account, which can be viewed here: CGT2015 Flickr Album.  Here are some more images from our trip around the coastline of Great Britain, click through the second slideshow below:    

The Countrywide Great Tour was an amazing experience and I recommend anyone to get involved in 2018 when the Great Tour is returning.  More of my images from the Countrywide Great Tour can be viewed on my website, my Facebook and my Flickr account.  If you are interested in purchasing any prints, using an image online or would like further information please send me an email at: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.  

Monkey Love, Bijilo Forest Park, The Gambia

I recently spent two months in West Africa visiting Senegal.  I have a Senegal album on my Flickr account with photos from Dakar, Lompoul, and Ziguinchor.  Whilst visiting the Casamance area in the south of the country I decided to take a trip to The Gambia.  The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa and is completely surrounded by Senegal except for its coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.  It is home to the Bijilo Forest Park (aka Monkey Forest).  Click through the slideshow below for some images I took of the monkeys there:

The Bijilo Forest Park, or Monkey Forest is situated next to the coast in the Serekunda area some 11 km's west of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.  There are various trails through the park that take you through the forest and coastal scrubland.  Many local people told me that there are no longer any monkeys left in the park but there were plenty on the day I visited.  I think the diversity of the monkey population has diminished over recent years with the Western Red Colobus monkey being pushed out of the area.  This has been blamed upon deforestation of the area as well as the practices of the park itself:  By encouraging tourists to buy nuts and feed the green monkeys, their numbers have risen massively pushing out the red monkeys.  I didn't see any red monkeys in the park whilst I was there but did see some along the main road in the mornings.  The green monkeys however are in an abundance (click through the carousel below for more monkey love):

Some major construction was taking place close to the entrance of the park when I visited with more of the park area being cleared for commercial development.  Hopefully enough forest survives for the existing monkeys but their future looks fragile. 

More of my travel photography can be found on my website, my Instagram and my Facebook page.  If you are interested in purchasing any prints, using an image online or would like further information please send me an email at: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.