Snowdon Reflection

Today I went out to Snowdonia with my daughter. Our intention was to walk part way up Snowdon but there were so many people there it wasn't really appealing so we went to Tryfan instead. It was really cold, the sky was beautifully clear and the light was perfect so I think I got some great shots.

This was the first shot I took today testing the settings and it was still set for monochrome, all the other shots I took today were in colour but I thought this works really well so I decided to post it before going through some of my other favourite shots of today.

This is just a small lake with a reflection of Snowdon (the mountain in the background)

Rising With The Sun

In the past week I have missed posting to my blog on a couple of days because I went to Birmingham and then to Manchester to see my absolute favourite band The Cat Empire in concert. Their recent album Rising With The Sun is fantastic and full of energy, all their music is really and it's well worth a listen. Anyway these early morning pictures of Snowdon lit by the rising sun seem fitting.

I'm still Standing...

...only just!

I am not sure what the original purpose for these buildings was but half way up the mountain they were an unusual feature. It was just next to these ruins that in January 2012 I camped out over night. It was very cold but the views were great. Just as they were on my recent visit and I have more to share over the next few days.

Misty Mountain Morning

Today has been a good day because I have just got back from the opening of an exhibition at the Williamson Art Gallery where for the second year I have had two photos accepted for the Open Art Exhibition. What made it even more special though was that my youngest son also had a picture accepted. It's a real thrill to see your work on display for others to view and it was a really high standard this year, so I am so proud of my boy!

Anyway today's selection of pictures follows on from my Snowdon Sunrise series. A few years ago I camped out on the mountain with my eldest son and some friends, it was in January and the overnight temperature was - 11celcius and we had camped overlooking Llyn Llydaw which was the lake in yesterdays shots. I couldn't find the exact spot on my way up the mountain so hiked up further than I had originally intended.  The path up was quite a hard slog but as you can see from these pictures it was well worth it.

These shots show different views of Glaslyn a small(ish) glacial lake just below the summit of Snowdon. The first two pictures were taken from slightly different vantage points with my back to the mountain. As you can see the clouds were quite low and it was still a little misty.  The second picture, for me at least,is the better of the two because the surface is calmer and so there is a sharper reflection. I think the picture give a real sense of how cold it was on this particular morning but within a very short space of time the clouds cleared revealing the summit and allowing me to get the next two stunning images. I like the way the snow appears to be flowing down the mountain and how the pattern in the snow is reflected in the surface of the lake. The final image is taken from just below the lake as it spills over a series of falls down to Llyn Llydaw in the valley below.

Llyn Llydaw

Apparently yesterday's blog was a bit too geeky, at least at the start so I'll try to keep the technical stuff to a minimum for today. Except to say that today's pictures were taken with my Sigma EFS 10 - 20mm f4 lens, sadly I can't use it on my full frame 6D so I won't be capturing nice wide shots like these for a while.

These two pictures of Snowdon reflected in Llyn Llydaw were taken the same January morning as the upward icicle in my earlier blog.  This was on the walk back down the mountain and it was hard to believe that conditions the night before had been as atrocious as they were.  Although it is very bright it was still very cold and the path was very icy in places and care was needed to avoid a nasty slip. 

When I look at these pictures I am really grateful that I live so close to such beautiful scenery as this.  It also makes me twitchy and I can't wait to get out there again...

Enjoy.

Canon EOS 450D Sigma 10 - 20 mm @ 14mm f5, ISO 100 1/160sec

Canon EOS 450D  Sigma 10 -20mm @ 16mm f6.3 ISO 100 1/160 sec

Ice Age

With autumn just starting I thought some seasonal pictures of woodland scenes and leaves changing colour would be quite nice.  But not today.  Today I have picked out two pictures of ice crystals.

The first image was taken on the slopes of Snowdon after a night camping out in January 2012 with Adam and some friends.  We had hiked up to a suitable site in driving rain and snow, pitching our tents in the dark.  Waking up early to a beautiful sunrise I was able to get some stunning pictures.  Walking a little way up the slope above our camping ground I found this icicle growing upwards in a small pool in an indentation in a rock.  I had never seen anything quite like it before but it is real, there is no trickery.  Apparently these formations can occur in distilled water and only below -7C which shows just how cold it was on the mountainside for the intrepid campers.

The second picture was taken in December that same year, again I was with Adam and another friend hiking, this time near Malham Tarn in Yorkshire on part of the Pennine Way. It was our last walk before Adam set off for Colombia. It was really cold and I remember on the road back to the car I slipped on some black ice and landed quite heavily, fortunately nothing was broken and my main concern was to protect my camera gear.  Anyway in this picture I have used my macro lens to pick out the individual ice crystals which were growing in a cluster on a dry stone wall.

Snowdon Jan 2012, Canon EOS 450D 18 - 55mm @ 49mm f5.6 ISO 100

Ice Crystal,
Canon EOS 450D Canon 100mm f2.8 macro @f5.6 ISO 800