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  • A spontaneous fast evening hike up to the summit of Elidir Fawr, grabbing the last of the sunshine before the torrential rain promised for the following day.<br />
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It was clear that the weather was already changing, dark clouds swirling around the peaks, but side-lit by striking evening sunlight. Though July, my hands were really cold in the strong gusting breeze. <br />
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I didn’t see a soul anywhere on the mountain so I was able to revel in the dramatic elemental conditions surrounding me, perfect and humbling solitude that freaks me as much as it excites me.
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  • Thick hill fog raced past on strong winds but upon clearing a vast and dramatic view was revealed. Intense sunshine burned through multiple layers of cloud and back-lit delicate trails of mist, but there was a dramatic darkness all about.
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  • Looking towards the Carneddau range of mountains (over 3000ft) in Snowdonia, Wales. There was a dramatic light from low afternoon winter sunlight illuminating the mountainsides under gentle clouds above. The steep cliffs drop down to the highly glaciated Nant Ffrancon pass below. The foreground mountain is Carnedd Dafydd and the more rounded peak behind is Carnedd Llewelyn.
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  • A heart pumping ascent; cold air stabbing the lungs; boots slipping on wet rock - why do we do this? The reasons are many, but for me at least it’s that vague hope that a blanket of grey turns to a theatre of dramatic light, an opportunity for me to revel in the ever-changing performance of the weather on the landscape stage. Yes I also know it’s doing me good, keeping me fit, healthy and mentally balanced, but honestly it’s mostly the hope of finding genuine visual excitement in the natural world.<br />
<br />
So much ‘landscape photography’ these days is about creating fake dreams through software, landscapes that bear no resemblance at all to what the human eye saw and it dumbfounds me. There really are amazing, mind-blowing miracles of light and weather to be observed so why do so many accept the con of the social media fakery? Have we truly lost the human ability to see the beauty in the world about us, and can only ever get our fix from fabricating over-processed lies?<br />
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I choose to continue to look for miracles that anyone can see when they stand next to me. Yes I need to know how my camera works and how to reproduce that beauty in file and on paper; yes I have no choice but to minimally & judiciously develop a digital file, but for me, it has to be a celebration of the real world and the magic that actually exists.
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  • International Color Awards 2016 - Nominee in "Nature" category<br />
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A solitary house bathed in late afternoon sunlight in dramatic weather overlooks this secluded little cove on North Anglesey, where streams run down to the sea.
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  • Dramatic sunlight against ominous dark skies threatening very heavy rain moving over the Isle of Anglesey. The beach in the foreground is the vast Red Wharf Bay (Traeth Coch) which at low tide reveals a pattern of sand cusps in the wet sand which reflects the bright sunshine. <br />
<br />
<br />
Following a specific location request from one of my customers, I found myself (almost) lost outside Llangoed on a warm late summer's afternoon. The sunshine back-lit the leaves of lush overgrown lanes as Cara Dillon sang to me in the front of the van. The hedgerows literally brushed past me as I ventured into narrower and narrower pathways, crows giving buzzards a temporary reprieve as they laughed at my black VW squeezing it's way out towards the bay.<br />
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The shallow beach at extreme low tide creates huge cusps of sand and water, resembling textile designs from the 1960s! The vicious and burning intensity of the light on the retina was not from the sun itself but from it's reflection on the wet sand. Although I tried to compose using peripheral vision I still was left temporarily blinded after shooting some frames.<br />
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Of course the contrast between the sunlit sand and the dry areas surrounding, meant the contrast was of the scale. To me, this was wonderful though, for just as looking towards the light blinded me, I found the fake shadows to be a beautiful and textural contrast, absolutely stunning.
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  • Looking towards the Carneddau range of mountains (over 3000ft) in Snowdonia, Wales. There was a dramatic light from low afternoon winter sunlight illuminating the mountainsides under gentle clouds above. The steep cliffs drop down to the highly glaciated Nant Ffrancon pass below. The foreground mountain is Carnedd Dafydd and the more rounded peak behind is Carnedd Llewelyn.
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  • Another evening walk into the mountains to catch the dramatic, changeable light. As so often happens though, clouds came down across the evening sun and over the summits. I sat there drinking coffee in what became a waiting game and then suddenly, a pulse of sunshine illuminated the hillsides of the Glyderau mountains, silhouetting the foreground peaks and creating a drama I liked even if it was not what I’d originally envisaged.
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  • According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be bright sunshine this afternoon - thankfully it wasn’t, and I was gifted with incredible dramatic light over the Llyn Peninsula.
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  • At the waterhole most of the animals seem to be acutely aware of the presence of other creatures even as they forage, eat and drink. Today however, as the giraffe nibbled at the succulent leaves in the tall trees, a dramatic storm was building behind. There was soon the rumble of thunder and shortly afterwards gigantic fork lightening cracked through the dark skies and punched any tall object below.
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  • Dramatic Autumnal evening light over perfect wave-smoothed sand in West Penwith, Cornwall.
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  • After a disheartening post-lockdown open-day at the gallery, when not one customer came in, I happily closed the door and after a big hug from Jani before she started her latest ITU shift, I decided to go for a last minute walk into the hills. <br />
<br />
I was literally alone on the hill and the light was promisingly dramatic. I reached the summit and started shooting some frames as the light changed by the minute. It was just before sundown when I heard voices and the first of two young couples arrived. There followed a short performance of selfie taking by both couples - on the style, over the style, against the sunset, away from the sunset, on the wall, off the wall, close up shots, distant shots, but I didn't see these couples just sitting (or standing) and just quietly absorbing the absolute beauty of the world around them. <br />
<br />
It was genuinely great to see young loving couples out in the big landscape, it can be such a romantic activity for lovers, but it would be nice to think they loved the natural beauty of the light, land and sounds of nature, as much as the selfie taking. I know this is sign of the times here, and perhaps I'm just too old school!
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  • UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
After what we thought was the beginning of summer, a shock blast from the Arctic soon snapped us back to reality that we've only just left winter. However from a photographer's perspective, the four-seasons-in-one-day weather we have at the moment, means an abundance of opportunity for striking and dramatically elemental image making.
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  • Don’t usually mess around with PhotoShop, preferring to keep things as natural as I remember, but in this case I just felt it was a lovely pair for my old shot, “Reflecting on Past Times”
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  • Before another traumatic Welsh lockdown, we decided last minute on an afternoon walk up to Penygadair.
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  • An overcast and windless day in Snowdonia last week but the rich Autumnal colours glowed beautifully in the near mirror-like surface of the mountain lake. Reflections in lakes are such a cliché so forgive me, I was just rather taken with the scene anyway and couldn't help jumping out of the van to make this image.
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  • Whilst waiting for my rock climbing partner to arrive, I couldn’t resist shooting this amazing morning sunshine illuminating striking cubist-looking slate crags. I saw them as huge landscape sculptures erupting from the dark grey slate waste all around.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  • Unlike Ty Uchaf, the farm below, these quarry buildings high up on the hillside are filled with lush grass and are open to the skies. Although ruins, they seem clean and tidy, and their views are stunning and expansive. However, these buildings mark what was obviously a busy quarry level, with a steep railway incline and winch tower just to the east of these units.
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  • From my book Nant Gwrtheyrn - Y Swyngyfaredd (The Enchantment)<br />
<br />
This book is available for purchase here on www.glyndavies.com
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  • Huge storms rip up the kelp and churn it with the sand, the fronds disappearing into the sand but the stalks sticking up like strange sea worms!
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  • A thousand + miles from anywhere, these volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean can create orographic rainclouds at any time of year. However, this plus the warmer climate gives rise to lush vegetaion and spectacular greenery and plant life. Flores means Flowers!
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  • It’s that time of year, and although I thoroughly dislike short days, darkness, rain and gloom, Autumn is also the season of warm water, warm gales, warm sunshine and incredible drama. If we could arrange to keep winter for just a month or so, I’d be very happy, but I’m trying to enjoy the most of the last vestiges of what was summer.
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  • Banks of cloud roll in from the Irish Sea and curl over the top of the Nantlle Ridge in Snowdonia, North Wales before evaporating again over the valley. Taken from the adjacent mountain, Mynydd Mawr.
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  • View from the upper slopes of Scafell Pike in the English Lake District. Brilliant sunshine turned to heavy cloud and heavy cloud turned to snow, before returning to heavy cloud but bitter winds once more. Small patches of light illuminated minute sections of this great Lakeland landscape, creating a fast moving theatrical stage of light and shadows
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  • Just the momentary interplay of light and shadow when a huge hole appears in the middle distance. With the impressive surge pool in the bottom left of this image, it's an illusion of one-upmanship in this stunning wintry mountainscape.
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  • The impressive waterfall cascades down the cold and shadowy cliffs of Y Graig Ddu, whilst a bitter autumn wind buffets the still-lush pine trees in an intense early-morning sunlight.
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  • In the darkest of times, needles of sunlight pierce blankets of blue winter, illuminating theatrical interplays on the earth below. Tiny little figures show the enormous scale of this mountainous stage,. You don't see these wondrous moments until they are floodlit by the universe above.
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  • Yr Elen looking magnificent and imposing in the winter vapours. In the summer it’s just an interesting bump preceding the bigger summit of Carnedd Llewelyn behind, but in these conditions it looked like a sunlit stairway to a snowy heaven. <br />
<br />
Over the last few years I have consciously avoided the snow, and hated the idea of going into cold, knackering snow blanketed mountains, but this year I’ve thoroughly enjoyed safe ventures into the low foothills from where I can observe the big peaks. This looks positively alpine but I was only on a low hill, zooming in on the bigger peaks with my telephoto lenses. It was a sense of being a part of it all without facing any real danger. I think next winter, post pandemic, I will be grabbing a mountaineering buddy and heading into the bigger peaks, that’s for sure.
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  • A mountain walker stops at a high point of a precipitous crag of Craig y Bera on Mynydd Mawr, to watch banks of cloud roll in from the Irish Sea and curl over the top of the Nantlle Ridge in Snowdonia, North Wales before evaporating again over the Nantlle valley.
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  • Banks of cloud roll in from the Irish Sea and curl over the top of the Nantlle Ridge in Snowdonia, North Wales, before evaporating again over the Nantlle valley at Drws y Coed. Taken from the a precipitous crag of Craig y Bera on the adjacent mountain of Mynydd Mawr.
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  • Last day of Menai Strait regatta 2017. Beaumaris courses. These images were taken whilst being filmed for the new ITV Wales sries, 'The Strait' to be broadcast in Januray 2018.<br />
<br />
Slam Media / Cread Cyf production for ITV Wales 2017
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  • Fleeting patches of light caress the slopes of the ancient mountain of Cader Idris during squally winter weather. Clouds build and billow at speed above the peaks, in contrast to the dark shadows of the huge North facing cliffs.
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  • The huge & imposing massif of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest mountain. This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills. If it were not for my friend feeling frozen I would have braved another hour or so of just sitting and watching.
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  • The wonderful sunlight of the morning was gradually disappearing - once scudding cloud shadows now dark sheets across the landscape - the cold winds now seemed bitter. As the weather front moved closer, last beams of direct sunlight illuminated isolated hills and peaks created a theatrically sculpted topography. Moel Cynghorion feels the last warmth as Tryfan stands imposing in the backgrpound shadows.
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  • I was the last on the hill, and the sun disappeared behind a huge bank of cloud, dulling the light completely. I watched a snowboarder carve his way down the soft snowy hillside away from me, quietly feeling the isolation, when a gentle hint of colour appeared over Snowdon. <br />
<br />
There was a spiritual and mental joy of the situation but also an intense feeling of peace and freedom that many of us deeply crave to keep our sanity.
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  • Even from the Isle of Anglesey the clouds over the mountains looked amazing, so I headed for the foothills. Strangely the effects looked better from Ynys Môn than the hills themselves but for a short while, magical moments of light offered themselves up here on the peaks. A huge dark cloud gathered over Garnedd Elidir and remained there even even after I crossed the summit ridge. <br />
<br />
In the background you can see Yr Wyddfa, the highest mountain in Wales & England, amazingly cloud free on its summit, even though much higher than Garnedd Elidir. <br />
<br />
I'd been reading numerous articles about women being anxious about men in the mountains, so it was interesting that bar one man, all my fellow walkers were confident, happy, friendly women, young & old, nothing like the worried women I'd read about in articles. I was pleased that none of these women saw me as a threat in our shared wonderful landscape.
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  • Yr Wyddfa is Wales' highest mountain. I didn't think I'd see the summit at all today as it continued to hide behind higher cloud,  but the moment I started to descend my own hill Yr Wyddfa decided to completely reveal it's magnificence. Never been happy about buildings for the masses on her peak but in this late evening light it did offer a sense of scale and man's tenacity.
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  • There’s a lot of truth in the suggestion that mountains can actually look far more majestic from below, than from the summits themselves. <br />
<br />
It was a beautiful day today on Anglesey, blue sky & sunshine - photographically a little boring even if the sunshine warmed my heart. At the end of day however the colours began to change and the mountain clouds started to disperse. It was a game of patience and hope, hope that the last of the sunshine would synchronise with the summit of Yr Wyddfa appearing through the clouds. I was delighted to make two exposures where the magic happened.
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  • In one giant brushstroke of glorious sunset, the Carneddau foothills were revealed as only a painter could imagine them.
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  • A surprisingly rocky, surprisingly ridgy, edgy walk around the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir which feeds the Dinorwic HEP station in Llanberis. The snow was everywhere but the weather was stunning, blue skies and bright crisp sunlight bouncing off brilliant clean white surface. In the distance huge snow clouds raced across the lowland island of Anglesey.
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  • Beyond the illusory warmth of foreground moors, stood the frozen twin peaks of Arenig Fawr, briefly illuminated by moments of temperamental winter sunlight.<br />
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I was lured by the mountain’s wonderful structure and ancient beauty, but the buffeting gale was biting into my face so on this day at least, I was glad not to have been on the icy summits.
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  • Evening light spilled under the clouds to illuminate the incredible and imposing Hottentots-Holland mountain range (part of the Cape Fold Belt) East of Cape Town. These mountains reach 1590 m / 5200 ft at their highest point.
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  • Although I stood in brilliant sunshine on my mountain top, clouds billowed over the main Snowdonia peaks, set against an ominous dark sky. Sunlight punched through the swirling vapour illuminating patches of hillside and ocassionally the summits themselves
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  • Low cloud rolling in from the Irish Sea wraps around the summit of Mynydd Mawr and adjacent peaks of the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia at sunset. The top of a pine woodland can be seen on the hillside, separated from the background by  sheets of hill fog.
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  • An early morning shoot from the hills of Yr Eifl on North Wales most Western tip, the Lleyn Peninisula. The clouds were stormy looking and threatening rain, but the sunlight between showers was crisp and beautiful and sculptural.
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  • Last day of Menai Strait regatta 2017. Beaumaris courses. These images were taken whilst being filmed for the new ITV Wales sries, 'The Strait' to be broadcast in Januray 2018.<br />
<br />
Slam Media / Cread Cyf production for ITV Wales 2017
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  • Shot from a mountain summit at sunset. At this time of year the sun blazes across the Menai Strait, the stretch of water that separates the Isle of Anglesey from the mainland. <br />
<br />
The wind was bitterly cold even in July, but sheltered behind the summit cairn the sun did offer some warmth as I excitedly watched the rapidly changing light created by fast moving swirling clouds above me. <br />
<br />
I remained on the summit until the sun dropped behind a huge bank of cloud on the horizon, and I walked down alone in the gathering dusk.
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  • The last embers of a burning sunset caught the gable ends of the hillside town of Groeslon on the hillside below the imposing Nantlle Ridge. The clouds were on fire, billowing and swirling, hiding and revealing the majestic hills behind. <br />
<br />
And then within perhaps a minute, a huge fire blanket of cloud on the horizon suffocated the intense flames, and the colours were gone for the night.
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  • "She was in that state between deep sleep and first opening of the eyes. She was resting in a remote cove and the early morning sunlight spilled over the headland and across her figure. Even for a mermaid the warm sunshine is always welcome and she could feel its life giving energy as she stirred"
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  • Although I stood in brilliant sunshine on my mountain top, clouds billowed over the main Snowdonia peaks, set against an ominous dark sky. Sunlight punched through the swirling vapour illuminating patches of hillside and ocassionally the summits themselves
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  • Last blast of evening sunlight over a stormy winter mountainscape in the Carneddau range, Snowdonia, Wales.  Spindrift blows off the ridge between Carnedd Dafydd and Carnedd Llewelyn.
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  • It was a day of mixed weather; brilliant sunshine then violent hail showers, but even when things seemed at their darkest, the burning sunshine was always just behind. The whole scene was visual metaphor for things in my life at that moment.
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  • Llyn Ogwen and Y Garn in a cold winter.
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  • Clean surf rolling in at Kynance Cove on the Lizard Peninsula, South Cornwall.
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  • If I knew I was dying, this would be an ideal place to go. On a grassy terrace high above the beach, looking South West over the Irish Sea, it brought back memories from so many places I’ve lived and visited, from Cornwall to the Azores, Scotland to the Canaries. The huge cliffs, steep drops and open expanse of the ocean would be a fitting place to finally close my eyes for the last time. I can only hope the poor sheep took similar uplifting thoughts with her!<br />
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A sheep skeleton lying on grass in bright afternoon Winter sunshine and rain showers over the Irish Sea and a rocky hillside on the hill top  above Nant Gwrtheyrn valley on the Northern Coast of the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales<br />
<br />
From my book Nant Gwrtheyrn - Y Swyngyfaredd (The Enchantment)<br />
<br />
This book is available for purchase here on www.glyndavies.com
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  • Just the most incredible sunset from a Welsh mountain top, looking out over Caernarfon Bay & the Irish Sea. The sea was basically calm, but you can still see huge swathes of movement when looking at the surface textures.
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  • Sheltering from the howling gale I found myself fascinated by the snake-like vein in my rock windbreak. When there's not a soul about and the landscape feels empty, I find myself looking more intently at the things closer to me, rather than the bigger views. I've never rationalised why I do this, but I think there's a sense being 'shared' with the immediate environment, that for a brief time when you are there, the features are like those of companions. I honestly talk to inanimate objects sometimes, as if I know them and appreciate them for simply being there, showing themselves to me. <br />
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This isn't just pandemic madness, I've always done this! The landscape often speaks to me, as I do to it.
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  • The roads were quiet, the forest track deserted and the hillsides empty. The morning rays of sunlight were slowly being extinguished by a deepening cloud cover and the winds were picking up. By the time I reached the ridge a howling gale was bending even the thickest fir trees. The summits were now hidden by a cloud of racing drizzle and were completely uninspiring. <br />
<br />
My heavy heart seemed to struggle to feed movement to my legs and every step felt tiring. As I left the hillsides I meandered around a lake and for only time that afternoon, glimmers of light glowed through thinning cloud, reflecting off the deep black lake, reminding me that at some point we will see light again.
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  • Garnedd Elidir & the Carneddau<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site <br />
<br />
Watching an Attenborough documentary as I write this, and it's clear that the damage we cause is everywhere and it's increasing. It's so much easier to focus on the beauty, to pretend everything is OK, but we are such a destructive, consuming species. <br />
<br />
I was thinking too, about the mental damage going on through lockdown, in so many ways, but for many, through wrongly being denied access to nature and what healing power it has left to give us. So many of us have chosen to live a much more economically challenged life to be closer to nature and landscape, for me at least because being out in nature is the only true means of me maintaining spiritual and mental balance. The governments say they are doing this to keep people safe, but the mental damage they are causing is considerable and very real. I don't think there has been much wisdom or foresight applied by those in suits, to how to keep people safe mentally without any undue risks to health in other ways. This damage is real for me, and will last my lifetime. There was zero need to ban so many sensible and regular outdoor folk from doing their covid safe activities, it was easier for ministers to make blanket rules but to the detriment of many people's well-being.
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  • I was the last on the hill, and the sun disappeared behind a huge bank of cloud, dulling the light completely. I watched a snowboarder carve his way down the soft snowy hillside away from me, quietly feeling the isolation, when a gentle hint of colour appeared over Snowdon. I stood for a few minutes, now completely alone, and then the light intensified and the whole landscape was bathed in the most glorious colours. The summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) appeared after two hours of waiting, so I trudged back up through thick snow to the summit of my own little hill and became quite ecstatic about everything that was happening. I was smiling from ear to ear, not even knowing where to look as it was all so beautiful, and then tears started rolling down my cheeks and I began to cry! I believe it was both the spiritual and mental joy of the situation but also an intense feeling of peace and freedom that many of us deeply crave to keep our sanity.
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  • I was the last on the hill, and the sun disappeared behind a huge bank of cloud, dulling the light completely. I watched a snowboarder carve his way down the soft snowy hillside away from me, quietly feeling the isolation, when a gentle hint of colour appeared over Snowdon. I stood for a few minutes, now completely alone, and then the light intensified and the whole landscape was bathed in the most glorious colours. The summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) appeared after two hours of waiting, so I trudged back up through thick snow to the summit of my own little hill and became quite ecstatic about everything that was happening. I was smiling from ear to ear, not even knowing where to look as it was all so beautiful, and then tears started rolling down my cheeks and I began to cry! I believe it was both the spiritual and mental joy of the situation but also an intense feeling of peace and freedom that many of us deeply crave to keep our sanity.
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  • Normally I avoid taking pictures of the mountains when they only have light patchy snow, as I always think it looks 'messy' but this evening, in the last of the sunlight before dusk, there was something subtly beautiful about it all, so I relented and made an image before a very muddy, squelchy, flooded walk home.
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  • Nominated in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Nature category)<br />
<br />
Deep sunset though stormy weather cloud conditions over the Irish Sea, seen from the slopes of Mynydd Mawr mountain in Snowdonia
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  • After more than an hour on the freezing summit, I slowly made my way down in deep snow, each leg sinking in to thigh level! I crouched in the snow whilst bitter winds ripped my face, waiting for a promised light to change the whole character of the atmosphere surrounding Wales highest mountain. I never quite saw the summit itself but the light did produce a beauty that was awe-inspiring
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  • Freezing cold conditions in a a strong winter breeze, but the light changed as rapidly as the cloud conditions. As the day drew to an end, the light became even more subtly beautiful. I spent an hour and half waiting in these bitter conditions for the light to evolve, and it was worth the cold.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  • From below, surrounded by hundreds of sledgers & skiers creating a cacophony of noisy laughs & screams, the summits were in swirling low cloud, never showing themselves. <br />
<br />
As I trudged higher the snow became thicker and the chaos of the crowds diminished. I followed deep snowy footprints & drops of bright red blood from an injured dog, marking the route of previous ascensionists. The snow dumbs sounds; no birds sang, or sheep bleated. I could hear my own heart as the silence & snow deepened more. <br />
<br />
I was surprised nevertheless by the numbers of small parties descending the hill, and I was troubled (as always) that I was being trailed by others, a super fit elderly couple with a tiny day sack, and a backpacking single guy. I stopped for a drink to let them pass and I watched them disappear into the thick fog. Finally, I was alone, and I laboured step by step in deep snow until I arrived at the summit. I could hear occasional walkers chatting in the whiteout, but none appeared alongside me. It was dark up there, and the strengthening wind chilled my fingers through my gloves. I sensed something was happening with the clouds though so persevered in my wait. For about ten minutes the sun made regular bursts through the low cloud, illuminating snow-crusted rock sculptures all around me. It transformed the scene completely & I felt less lonely somehow. <br />
<br />
The horizon darkened and I could see snow clouds approaching. It was getting colder and colder, so I called it a day and retraced my footsteps back down to cloud base. Sleet and then heavy rain pelted me about five minutes from the van. Dozens and dozens of soaked sledging families made a sad retreat off the slopes.  I was delighted with the ten or so images that I made on the summit. I think will make some beautiful prints for the gallery wall.
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  • Shot from the summit of Gyrn towards a phenomenal sunset over the Llyn Peninsula. The high hills to our left never really received much light so remained a cold grey blue all afternoon. Today I was alone again, and happy. A group of mountaineering students looked as if they would head for this summit but then they turned and headed into invisibility. The wind was severe and bitterly cold but it was worth being on the hill tops for light such as this.
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  • Imposing and precipitous, dark towers of mountainside were temporarily bathed in gentle afternoon light, warming the cold ramparts and illuminating their weakness. We so need light these days.
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  • Wintry weather in Summer. The air was warm but the strong wind was cold. The pandemic has left popular beaches near deserted. Today just three other couples along the two mile stretch of shoreline. Sad though it is for so many loyal Anglesey visitors, I have to admit that having beaches to yourself, especially as a landscape photographer, is a rare treat, a treat that may never be repeated in my lifeline, so I relish every moment. <br />
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In the emptiness so much else was happening though, all centred around the movement of sea and clouds and the rapid changes of light across shifting surfaces. The intensity of contrast between moody skies and brilliant sparkling wet sand, was just mesmerising, hard to pull away your eyes let alone move your feet.  There is so much to see in such emptiness, but then I think I’ve always felt that; that sometimes the emptiness itself helps to focus the eye on the smallest of changes and differences.
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  • UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
No this isn’t filtered, this was shot in torrential rain that was back-lit by intense evening sunshine setting over the Irish Sea. I’d been checking out the climbing routes in the Dinorwic Quarries, waiting for the sun to come out from banks of heavy cloud, when I noticed a glow on the crags behind me. I rounded the corner and the sky was on fire. A first few drops of rain dappled the slate slabs around me so I hurried to the edge of the levels and rapidly set up my camera before the heavens opened up on top of me. I grabbed perhaps 10 frames in total as the sheets of rain moved across the hillsides. I also saw and managed to grab a shot of a most glorious rainbow behind me.
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  • Delicate last washes of evening sunshine bathed the West facing mountain landscape. The Marchlyn lake glowed blue against the grass-covered man-made dam. Even though the air was cold, the weak sunshine offered warmth when I sheltered from the wind. I was instantly attracted to these amazing geometric faces of rock in the foreground, perfectly shattered by nature.
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  • A shattered landscape, blasted, gouged and ripped apart by mans material need, lies abstracted in the gorgeous warmth of evening sunlight, the quarrymen long gone. <br />
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Today a different form of quarry workers assault the slate faces, roped up, drilling, clipping, sweating and shouting to each other in the carved out quarry levels. <br />
<br />
The multitude of tough labourers who faced hardship and danger in this industrial landscape are now but echoes in the shadows and deep pits. From the faces of smooth slate in now abandoned quarries, come the sounds of excited chatter and exhilaration as modern day climbers fill the void that has been left.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  • It was strange to be standing in sunshine one one side of the valley, looking towards the banks of fog rolling over the hillsides opposite.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  • It was strange to be standing in sunshine one one side of the valley, looking towards the banks of fog rolling over the hillsides opposite. The bustling town of Llanberis looked so tiny below the crazy swirling weather above.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  • An incredibly gale blasted early morning hike into the Welsh hills. I was literally blown over twice and the tripod was next to useless for photography. The light conditions and cloud effects were not what I’d hoped for but it was strangely beautiful in it’s super-bright blanket of haze, softening the distant hills and making Tryfan stand out in a way I couldn’t have imagined. Nevertheless the quality of light diminished with every passing minute, so I was happy to race back down the mountain to meet up with friends to go rock-climbing on Tryfan Bach!
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  • I was up early to enjoy thick fog over the island. A shipwreck was exposed on the low tide, silhouetted by a blaze of brilliant sunshine. The ancient Welsh hills, normally a backdrop to this view were invisible, obscured by curtains of billowing fog gently heading Northwards.
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  • A surprisingly rocky, surprisingly ridgy, edgy walk around the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir which feeds the Dinorwic HEP station in Llanberis. The snow was everywhere but the weather was stunning, blue skies and bright crisp sunlight bouncing off brilliant clean white surface. In the distance huge snow clouds raced across the lowland island of Anglesey.
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  • Huge slabs of rock just underneath the grass and peat inclined steeply. A fast flowing stream cuts down into the joint as it tumbles down towards the wide glaciated Ogwen in the distance. Heavy rain clouds hang over some of Snowdonia's highest peaks.
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  • Banks of cloud roll in from the Irish Sea at sunset, and curl over the top of the Nantlle Ridge in Snowdonia and over Rhyd Ddu and the lakes of Llyn y Dywarchen and Llyn y Gader, Snowdonia, North Wales. Taken from a lower ridge of Mynydd Mawr
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  • The summit of Snowdon peaks above a huge cloud bank and convection clouds building over Nant y Betws, Rhyd Ddu and the mountain of Mynydd Mawr.
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  • An early morning shoot from the hills of Yr Eifl on North Wales most Western tip, the Lleyn Peninisula. The clouds were stormy looking and threatening rain, but the sunlight between showers was crisp and beautiful and sculptural.
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  • "She was in that state between deep sleep and first opening of the eyes. She was resting in a remote cove and the early morning sunlight spilled over the headland and across her figure. Even for a mermaid the warm sunshine is always welcome and she could feel its life giving energy as she stirred"
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  • Nominee in Nude / B&W Spider Awards 2017<br />
<br />
She was confused. She’d fallen into a deep sleep in a remote cove but as the morning sun broke over the shadowy headland she realised she was now in the open and clearly visible. <br />
<br />
When she saw me huddled against the nearby rocks hiding from the biting Northerly wind, she froze and then scowled at me. She hadn’t been exposed to a man before but I talked reassuringly to her, and she soon came to understand that I posed no threat. <br />
<br />
For maybe twenty minutes she alternated between swimming around the pool and pulling herself up onto the boulders to talk with me. She seemed to enjoy conversation. She loved her newfound confidence in being open in front of a man and she didn’t shy away as I asked her questions. I studied her as she studied me and we had an understanding of the fascination in each other. <br />
  <br />
As waves started crashing in on the advancing tide, she swam to the far end of the pool. She studied me intently one last time and with a flick of her powerful tail she leapt the rock barrier into the ocean and she was gone.  I knew though that as our paths had now crossed, this wouldn’t be our only encounter with each other, and I was right.
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  • I arrived at the beach at the very last minute, after a long day in the gallery and a desperate need for fresh air. The sunshine on the trees and hedgerows as I swept by in my van was an intoxicating promise of things to come but even as I neared the coast I could see a band of broken cloud on the horizon and a chance of broken promises.<br />
<br />
This is one of a couple of frames from the sand dunes before jogging down to the water’s edge where huge sand pools had formed. I only managed about 3 subtly different frames before the sun dropped behind a layer of dark cloud and the intensity had gone for the night. I count myself lucky nevertheless
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  • Shot whilst teaching my first 1-1 workshop in years. <br />
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“Out of the dark clouds that had been covering Snowdon’s summit all day, a small steam locomotive gently descends from the gloom into patches of bright afternoon sunlight. The chugging sound of the engine carried across the valley and continued even when the engine disappeared from sight down it’s 4 mile long track”
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  • Winner - Honourable Mention in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Nature category) <br />
<br />
The huge & imposing massif of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest mountain. This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills. If it were not for my friend feeling frozen I would have braved another hour or so of just sitting and watching.
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  • The iconic and craggy peak of Tryfan, a hill walkers' mecca in the heart of Snowdonia, peaks it's irregular summit in the far distance, but to the right, deceptively looking even higher, is the huge rounded and open peak of Glyder Fawr. <br />
<br />
This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills. If it were not for my friend feeling frozen I would have braved another hour or so of just sitting and watching.
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  • Sunset washed billowing clouds race across the snowy faces of the majestic Snowdonia mountain range in North Wales, belying the bitter cold conditions on the summits under the warm light
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  • One minute the summit of Elidir Fawr was bathed in early Spring sunshine and the next the sky had darkened and freezing vapour engulfed us. However the rapidly swirling clouds formed the most beautiful shapes and the semi obscured sun created a backlit stage of theatrical movement as we drank hot coffee to keep warm.
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  • Glimpses of sunshine - patches of fast-moving light scudding across the striking ridges of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and its foothills. First warm rays - an ultraviolet shower between snow-clad peaks. Perfect company and amongst this theatrical majesty, a young woman’s first illuminating and exhilarating ascent of a Welsh mountain
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  • SUN28 Shot Up North Awards winning entry (2016).<br />
<br />
International Color Awards 2016 - Nominee in "Nature" category<br />
<br />
The huge & imposing massif of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest mountain. This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills.
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  • Huge storm waves crash over Penzance Harbour wall at night, backlit by the high pressure sodium floodlights
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  • Storm at Sennen Cove, West Penwith, Cornwall, where Atlantic waves broke over the small harbour wall on the South side of the wide bay. Cape Cornwall headland near St Just can be seen in the background.
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  • Newlyn harbour in winter. between heavy rain showers. The whole fishing fleet seemed to be in this still active Cornish fishing harbour. Penlee Lifeboat a Severn-class 17-36 "Ivan Ellen" (on station 2003) is moored alongside the pontoon.
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Glyn Davies, Professional Photographer and Gallery

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