Aberaeron full of pastel charm. 4 x Telephoto Camera. Apple ProRAW 48mp
It’s only been a few weeks since we were driving through Florida and the Keys, soaking up the heat, colour and roadside Americana. Now we're back on the road, this time closer to home, heading along the Welsh coast through Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. The landscapes will be different; tea rooms replacing diners, rugged cliffs instead of palm trees, but the spirit of the road trip stays the same.
I’m carrying the new iPhone 17 Pro Max. As always I'll be shooting on the go in real-world conditions. Every new model promises more possibilities. But the real measure isn’t in spec sheets or keynote slides, it’s out here, shooting on the move, catching moments as they happen, and editing on the mobile devices before the day is done. Responding quickly to the light, the weather, and the fleeting details that make a journey memorable. It’s about working fast, staying mobile, and seeing what the latest iPhone can do without slowing me down.
All of this falls under what I call the iPhone photography mindset. It’s about embracing limits, trusting the device in your pocket, and using speed and simplicity to turn fleeting moments into lasting images. This trip is the next chapter in that journey. Photos captured, edited, and shared before I’ve even set off again.
The plan is simple: follow the coast, stop often, and let the places speak. South West Wales isn’t about rushing from A to B, it’s about the small harbours with their pastel houses, the beaches where the tide pulls so far back you can walk forever, and the headlands that change mood with every shift of the weather.
Aberaeron and New Quay
It’s just under a hundred miles from home to the harbour town of Aberaeron, swapping the familiar North Wales shoreline for the coast of Cardigan Bay. It took a shade over three hours and about 40% EV charge. We rolled south along the A487 with the sky wide open and blue, the kind of clarity that makes every colour pop. The road curves and dips, carrying you past fields edged with stone and hedgerow, villages drift by and the sea flashes bright and calm to the right. Sixteen miles south of Aberystwyth, Aberaeron appears like a pastel postcard. Georgian terraces fringe a tidy harbour, boats rise and fall with the tide, and the air mixes salt with the sweetness of honey ice cream from the quay. Calm, ordered, quietly charming, a natural gateway to this coast.
The road clings to the headlands before dropping into New Quay. Houses scatter down the hillsides, the harbour curls into the sand, and life gathers around the water. Fishing boats nudge against pleasure craft, gulls call overhead, and on the right evening you might catch dolphins in the bay. By sunset the harbour wall fills with families, chips in hand, watching the light bleed into the sea.
We’re staying just outside town, close enough to wander in, far enough to let the hush settle once the visitors drift away. It’s a good base: Aberaeron’s pastel calm to the north, New Quay’s seaside pulse to the south. A few days here to settle, to explore, and to give the iPhone some room to perform.
!x 24mm Camera HEIF 24MP
1x 24mm Camera 12MP PANO mode HEIF
1x 24mm Camera 24MP ProRAW
1x 24mm Camera 24MP ProRAW
1x 24mm Camera 24MP ProRAW
1x 24mm Camera 24MP ProRAW
