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  • Nominated for 11th International B&W Spider Awards<br />
<br />
“The wind blew hard across the rolling landscape but the winter rain drove harder, stabbing the skin of the earth and the flesh of the figure. The sky grew dark and the hills blackened, but a gentle beam of light continued to illuminate the woman, outstretched on the dune. A firm arm of soft sand pressed into her back, supporting her and the new life now growing inside her, positioning her to face the universe”
    Sensual Landscape
  • A pandemic-induced re-wilding, at least in terms of peace, tranquility and a lushening landscape. Footpaths have healed and the sounds of nature were now more audible than the usual screaming of motorbikes racing up the pass.  This landscape is heavily influenced by man of course, but a vivid new sense of nature pervades the whole atmosphere of the place now.
    GD002610.jpg
  • 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
    GD002395.jpg
  • Nominee in Nude / B&W Spider Awards 2017<br />
<br />
There is always something special and deeply sensuous about touching wild water. The woman stretched her body and gently, slowly, rolled across the wet sand with no more than an inch of water beneath her slender body. Her long raven hair whipped in the warm West wind blowing down the estuary from the sea beyond the dunes. She revelled in the feelings; embraced by the elements; sinking her fingers into the saturated earth and pressing her flesh against the estuary, becoming a part of it, connected to it, supported by it. Droplets trickled over every inch of her body making the wind feel cool, goosebumps raised on her delicate skin, making her even more sensitive to the air around her. She was invigorated, purified.
    A Roll In Landscape
  • "Landscape Figures" Believable nudes in wild landscape<br />
<br />
A major new exhibition, “Landscape Figures”<br />
<br />
In 2011, the British Prime Minister catapulted professional landscape photographer, Glyn Davies, into the limelight after purchasing two of Glyn’s books as a personal gift for the Royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. What people did not know at this time is that Glyn had started working in his free time on a three year major project dealing with the subject of fragility and vulnerability of the naked human form in wild landscape.<br />
<br />
The models are inexperienced volunteers from the general public, not photographic models, and they were asked to pose completely naked, all forms of protection removed, clothes, boots and equipment so that they became exposed physically and mentally to the elements, but sensually connected to the earth and nature. Glyn said, "I mostly wanted to place the exposed figures within bigger spaces but sometimes there was a need to place them in more intimate, closer landscapes"
    Wall of Fog
  • Nominated for 11th International B&W Spider Awards<br />
<br />
Walking in the baking heat of the desert landscape in Northern Fuerteventura, my mouth was dry, my skin burned, the air seemed to suck moisture direct from my lungs. The wind whipped sand across my legs and every step in the soft sand was an effort in the middy sunshine. <br />
<br />
At the back of a beach these would be no more than fun dunes but even in this very small piece of landscape, the distant hills seemed even further away than I’d imagined, and each sandy hill was a mountain that defeated uphill progress. I found a drinks can, so beaten by the ultraviolet radiation and intense conditions that it was completely devoid of its original colours and was breaking down in structure. <br />
<br />
And yet, despite the extreme sensations I was experiencing, there was a beauty in the hostile environment, a delicate aesthetic that lures you in to its heart; unspoiled virginal white sand sculpted by nature into wonderful curvaceous shapes. <br />
<br />
Every time I revisit this island I am drawn back to this mini desert, but it has left me with a thirst to experience more vast and impressive deserts. Is it that the shifting surfaces and the labyrinthine of changing landscape features makes these places more magical, or surreal? It may be that we are visiting Namibia in 2018 so my curiosity and hunger for these places may be sated.
    GD001441
  • Walking in the baking heat of the desert landscape in Northern Fuerteventura, my mouth was dry, my skin burned, the air seemed to suck moisture direct from my lungs. The wind whipped sand across my legs and every step in the soft sand was an effort in the middy sunshine. <br />
<br />
At the back of a beach these would be no more than fun dunes but even in this very small piece of landscape, the distant hills seemed even further away than I’d imagined, and each sandy hill was a mountain that defeated uphill progress. I found a drinks can, so beaten by the ultraviolet radiation and intense conditions that it was completely devoid of its original colours and was breaking down in structure. <br />
<br />
And yet, despite the extreme sensations I was experiencing, there was a beauty in the hostile environment, a delicate aesthetic that lures you in to its heart; unspoiled virginal white sand sculpted by nature into wonderful curvaceous shapes. <br />
<br />
Every time I revisit this island I am drawn back to this mini desert, but it has left me with a thirst to experience more vast and impressive deserts. Is it that the shifting surfaces and the labyrinthine of changing landscape features makes these places more magical, or surreal? It may be that we are visiting Namibia in 2018 so my curiosity and hunger for these places may be sated.
    GD001449.jpg
  • "I stood waist deep in dark water in a mountain gorge. Drizzle permeated the air & everything was dank. The thundering noise of the waterfall at the far end was relentless & disturbing in this remote, surreal landscape but soon the sound intensified, almost deafening in the darkness, as the figure of a tormented man appeared, raising himself within the pummelling, punishing torrent"
    A Mountain Shower
  • Nominee in 10th Annual Black & White Spider Awards<br />
<br />
SUN (Shot Up North) Awards 2015<br />
1 of my 4 winning entries <br />
<br />
A winning entry in the MOMA Wales Tabernacle Art Competition 2015<br />
<br />
International MONO Awards 2014 - Honourable Mention <br />
<br />
Selected Print for the IN:SIGHT (Washington Green) New Artists Competition 2015<br />
<br />
_______________________________________<br />
<br />
On a rocky mountain summit a young woman was about to fly. It was the first time she'd been up a mountain and the first time she'd truly 'felt' her world. Before taking off she revealed more.<br />
<br />
She said that being naked made her feel truly connected to landscape. To be able to feel wind and rain, warmth and cold; to feel stone beneath your feet and wind in your hair. The truth of existence.
    First Flight
  • 4th of 6 images from my desert series within the larger "Landscape Figures" project. <br />
<br />
“In current times we are seeing an explosion of population and an unsustainable demand for the Earth’s resources. We are in an era when self-interest, greed, power, conflict and indifference rule over tolerance, compassion and love. By now as a species, we should be living in harmony with others and our planet. I often ponder upon why we never really learn, and whether anything would be any different if mankind had the chance to start all over again.<br />
<br />
This small set of images is just an imaginary glimpse of two ordinary people, a man and a woman, both naked as the day they were born, finding love and happiness together on a planet budding with new life. This story doesn’t have a sting in the tail. This story begins and will end with harmony between people and their environment. It is just a little gasp of hope within the current darkness."
    Breathing Life Into Shadows
  • "I stood waist deep in dark water in a mountain gorge. Drizzle permeated the air & everything was dank. The thundering noise of the waterfall at the far end was relentless & disturbing in this remote, surreal landscape but soon the sound intensified, almost deafening in the darkness, as the figure of a tormented man appeared, raising himself within the pummelling, punishing torrent"
    The Apparition
  • Looming out of the fog-shrouded barren landscape thrusts a granite tor.<br />
Once molten earth, but now ancient stone carved by eons of wind, rain and acid erosion.<br />
<br />
A woman delicately ascends the slippery, lichen covered blocks, her soft skin vulnerable to the gritty surface, grazing her as she climbs. She stands on the summit, the highest point around, the wind whipping her hair across her face, and horizontal drizzle soaking her exposed body. She scans her surroundings looking for any signs of others, but there was no one. She was totally alone amongst the stones.
    Alone in the Stone
  • There is a stark loneliness at this far-flung crag even in summer. The woman had been silently climbing the rocky crag to reach its flat top, where she crouched down to look around her. The slow turn of her head was the only movement in this still landscape but then she arose, her slender body illuminated by a ray of late afternoon sunshine. She turned to the light and stood on tiptoes before shouting into the breeze, “I can’t believe this! I’m alone on a mountain and I am completely NAKED! This is AMAZING!” She slowly rotated on her stone platform so that she could feel the warmth over every inch of her body and she revelled in the sensual experience of sun-warmed air flowing over her womanhood. She felt natural; she felt the rock; she loved the liberation and the open space. She was at one with the mountains.
    She Saw the Light
  • “It’s the season of mist and fog, as remnants of warm air linger throughout autumn and into winter, caressing the cooling, softened landscape. Yet the weather can still be uplifting for those who are aware, for the gentle flow of condensed air carries resonant memories of sunny days, laughter, friends and cold wine. Ahead we look forward to the new life that spring brings and we build powerful and positive dreams for hot days to come and another clothes free summer. <br />
<br />
So winter is neither frightening nor negative, though understandably will be for some poor souls, but in it’s own way it’s a dramatic and wonderful cleansing, wiping the slate clean for the year ahead. For those of us lucky enough to be healthy & able, we should revel in the sensuous conditions of autumn and wrap ourselves in its elemental cloak to truly feel connected to the changing seasons.”
    Mist Touches
  • Evening light illuminates a vast tract of tall marram covered dunes. In the lee of a cool, stiff breeze, two lovers entwine their bodies, heat against heat, warm skin pressed against warm skin, connected as one and oblivious to the stabbing of the needle like grass all about them.<br />
<br />
Shadows rise and fall over their shallow nest in this vast wild landscape as clouds scud by, but in one moment of true glory, rays of sunshine bathe them in warmth as their own heat subsides. There is something just so pure about making love completely naked in the wild, utterly connected in every sensual way to the Earth, the plants and the elements that give us life and enable us to make life.
    Love In the Breeze
  • It was still winter, the rock was icy cold and the bitter rough surface of the curved rock, normally a sun-bed in summer, was freezing her skin. Yet, in the windless air, those afternoon rays of sunshine gave her some relief. She relished the pleasure and the pain and stretched out abandoned to the sensations. Her skin was tight, but textured to touch, thousands of goosebumps working hard to keep her warm.<br />
<br />
I’d never seen anything so incredible, not just the amazing landscape but that it cradled such a gorgeous woman. I walked over to her, took hold of her hand and whispered, “You’re beautiful!" She turned towards me, smiled and we kissed, warmth burning between us in the rocky wilderness that we had found ourselves in.
    Heat On An Icy Rock
  • It's too easy to make mistakes when we think we've nearly finished. Complacency and over-confidence are often our downfall, and we must never take our eyes off where we are going if we are to realise our final objective. <br />
<br />
<br />
"Landscape Figures" explores the relationship between organic human figures and a notional 'wild landscape'. Although the nude is vital to the project and integral within the images, the images are not just ‘nudes’ – they are landscapes and stories. In a way they are just simple, beautiful, dreamlike visual questions
    Final Moves
  • 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 />
.<br />
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.
    GD002344.jpg
  • The air was warm but the sea was cool. A weak sunburst gently broke through the gloom on the horizon. There was hardly a drop of wind over the calm green sea so the wave surfaces were smooth and glassy. <br />
<br />
There were a handful of motionless, statue-like figures at the water’s edge, small posts of resistance against the incoming tide, but one woman stood out. She was beautiful; lightly tanned skin; petite but womanly figure; long, wet, bedraggled hair and clearly the most youthful of shoreline sculptures. Her head was tilted backwards so she could neither see behind her, nor me watching. I noticed an almost imperceptible tremble in her limbs as the wave energy approached her. Involuntarily her figure lifted as she rose to her feet whilst the wave wrapped higher around her legs, from calves, to thighs to buttocks - her arms tensed, balancing herself but also in defiance of the coolness of the water engulfing her body. As the wave fizzled on the sandy shoreline her body relaxed once more, before repeating the process. We often fear what we can’t see, but so often the unexpected can bring delight, excitement and the thrill of the new; of being alive and connected to the earth and water.<br />
<br />
From my "Landscape Figures" project
    GD001412.jpg
  • There is something about being on a precipice, physically and metaphorically, that divides me. Part of me fears the void, fears the drop, yet it also fascinates me. At the same time I feel closest to life, to the amazing things, to good things, joy, happiness and elation. The precipice is a border, a fine line between the end or the future, it’s the stuff of dreams. At first I didn’t even notice the woman, petite, fragile, pale, leaning backwards against the cold rock, a thousand foot drop on three sides of her. But as my eyes focussed on this minuscule organic body in the centre of vast and ancient landscape I saw that she was basking in the afternoon sunlight, her arms spread wide and face towards the universe above. She seemed calm, content, giving herself up to the awareness of space, distance, earth and solitude, a spiritual awareness not of God but of her own existence.
    Exposed to the Light
  • Born in Africa this young woman is at home where the wind-blown desert sands meet the cold Atlantic ocean. She feels at one with this place. She revels in the mixed sensations of the burning heat on her torso, gales tossing her hair and even the stinging of the sharp sand against her ankles. She hears the sound of heavy waves piling on the vast shoreline and she can hear Terns calling high in the sky above. Behind her, a tablecloth of swirling cloud builds over the mountains, marking the zone where the warm Agulhas Current of the Indian Ocean meets the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic. This is a vast and unforgiving landscape but it is hers and she owns it.
    Burning Hot in African Winds
  • Walking in the baking heat of the desert landscape in Northern Fuerteventura, my mouth was dry, my skin burned, the air seemed to suck moisture direct from my lungs. The wind whipped sand across my legs and every step in the soft sand was an effort in the middy sunshine. <br />
<br />
At the back of a beach these would be no more than fun dunes but even in this very small piece of landscape, the distant hills seemed even further away than I’d imagined, and each sandy hill was a mountain that defeated uphill progress. I found a drinks can, so beaten by the ultraviolet radiation and intense conditions that it was completely devoid of its original colours and was breaking down in structure. <br />
<br />
And yet, despite the extreme sensations I was experiencing, there was a beauty in the hostile environment, a delicate aesthetic that lures you in to its heart; unspoiled virginal white sand sculpted by nature into wonderful curvaceous shapes. <br />
<br />
Every time I revisit this island I am drawn back to this mini desert, but it has left me with a thirst to experience more vast and impressive deserts. Is it that the shifting surfaces and the labyrinthine of changing landscape features makes these places more magical, or surreal? It may be that we are visiting Namibia in 2018 so my curiosity and hunger for these places may be sated.
    GD001443.jpg
  • This is one of the main roads into Southern Namibia, shortly after leaving the border control on the Orange River. We had passed an isolated garage and a few kms later an agriculturally based township, but then we went around a bend of an escarpment and over a hill, and were faced with this arid but incredible desert landscape. We drove for over an hour on this harsh dirt track, without seeing another car. There were no towns, no hamlets, no roadside stores, not even telegraph or electricity lines. It was barren. No animals to be seen, no birds of any sort and no signs of snakes or scorpions or in fact anything. Stepping outside the car I entered an oven of heat, into the 40ºs and surprising silence. The landscape was vast and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a huge, empty, lonely space - but I loved it, I enjoyed the vulnerability it created and the recognition that I was really, truly alive - as little else at that moment at least, seemed to be. <br />
<br />
I knew I was going to enjoy this country.
    GD002252.jpg
  • The rolling silver waves at Porth Nobla carved their way inland, separating the foreground dunes from the spray softened, historic and undulating landscape of West Anglesey. The ancient burial mound of Barclodiad y Gawres lies on the headland, just right of the frame.
    GD000353.jpg
  • I've been enjoying evenings with my parents lately, when I collect them from their house and we disappear on evening jaunts in my van, usually to the seaside to eat fish & chips and watch the sunset. These evenings have become very important to me as I watch Mum & Dad getting older, and I recognise more than ever that our time is finite, and that people we take for granted (in a nice way) simply won't be there forever. <br />
<br />
As Dad hunted on the shingle beach for wood for his sculptures, my Mum and I were captivated by the simple beauty of light and pattern in the wet sand and sky in front of us. These sorts of landscape pictures are generally too easy to take and very obvious, but this image means more to me than landscape, it was about sharing a vision with my lovely and precious Mum.
    GD002202.jpg
  • In this variation of 'the beginning', a unique and isolated woman is powerful, assured in her sense of place and happy with her life.<br />
<br />
The man is alone too, existing rather than living. The realisation that he is suddenly not alone intrigues him. He is captivated by the idea of someone to share his world. He struggles up the constantly shifting sand, one step up, two steps back, focussed upon reaching, touching, understanding this strange, beautiful being above him who embraced the elements. <br />
<br />
She absorbs the natural energy and revels in the spirit of her environment, but he finds purpose in his life and will tenaciously overcome anything to make connection with her. Together, although they don’t know it yet, they will be as one, a perfect balance of wisdom, spirituality, tenacity, compassion, affection and emotional need for each other. They will feel love and will have found a new purpose for living. What they instil in their new creation, will determine a parallel world to that in which we now exist, a better world. <br />
<br />
"Landscape Figures" explores the relationship between organic human figures and a notional 'wild landscape'.
    The Approach
  • One of a very short series of images taken whilst I was being filmed being interviewed by Jamie Owen for a BBC Wales documentary series on Welsh Landscape. It was difficult trying to talk and shoot at the same time but the light was so amazing that I couldn't help shooting these four of five frames for real. They have subsequently been filmed for inclusion within the program!
    GD000471.jpg
  • Sunset over Bwlch Mawr on the Llyn Peninsula Trail - A beautifully soft and rounded mountain landscape, grass covered and sensuous. Amidst this gentlying blowing softness, hard man made walls graphically divide the landscape.
    GD001923.jpg
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
The massif of Snowdon tries to hold back an enormous fog bank from the Irish Sea, but clouds and fog spilled over nevertheless. Through short breaks in the fog, brilliant sunlight blasted the quarries on the mountainside opposite, separating and dividing the landscape into multiple layers of tone, colour and shadow. In a manmade industrial landscape like this, the whole scene looked more like something from a Hollywood film set.
    GD002371.jpg
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
The massif of Snowdon tries to hold back an enormous fog bank from the Irish Sea, but clouds and fog spilled over nevertheless. Through short breaks in the fog, brilliant sunlight blasted the quarries on the mountainside opposite, separating and dividing the landscape into multiple layers of tone, colour and shadow. In a manmade industrial landscape like this, the whole scene looked more like something from a Hollywood film set.
    GD002372.jpg
  • Honourable Mention in the 2016 (11th) Annual Black & White Spider Awards<br />
<br />
“It was a warm overcast evening, but delicate strokes of sunlight occasionally filtered through the grey blanket. Its was silent; even the waves barely murmured and the seabirds must have been at roost for there were no calls. In the middle of a rock pool rose a large coffin shaped stone. I lay across its cool surface, acutely aware of the minutest of breezes, the slippery weed below my body but also eroded smoothness of this natural landscape. I lay there for almost an hour until the fast advancing tide swirled around my rock bed, and the sea caressed my fingers and toes, ready to take me, to float me away. It was a wonderful sense of existence”
    At Rest
  • These huge, ancient mountains offer some opportunity for spiritual nourishment from nature & landscape, but almost without exception it's near impossible to find real peace & tranquility here, from high planes and wasp-like drones; the scream of motorbikes racing up the mountain passes; even just outdoor adventurers, chatting, laughing, shouting and calling to each other, to the endless background hum of cars winding their way around the valley lanes.  <br />
<br />
So during lockdown it was an incredible treat, a unique lifetime experience to find myself utterly alone in this magnificent landscape. No planes in the sky, not one vehicle on the road, empty lay-bys and no other sound of human voices. What I did hear, vividly & acutely, were the sounds of the wind in the trees & grasses, the chirping of birds and the trickling of water in tiny brooks. I've rarely felt as close to being at one with the planet. There are few things I will miss about lockdown, but the privilege of finding true solitude in normally busier landscapes, is definitely one of them.
    GD002670.jpg
  • So much of the very famous limestone pavement above Malham Cove itself, are highly polished and eroded due to sheer footfall, but just walk an extra mile or so and there are far wilder and actually more exciting pavements to marvel at. In the dramatic dark weather, low afternoon sunshine blasted across the landscape and the white limestone really came into it’s own visually.
    GD002026.jpg
  • Selected Print for the IN:SIGHT (Washington Green) New Artists Competition 2015<br />
<br />
Nominee in 10th Annual Black & White Spider Awards<br />
<br />
"The woman stood motionless, or so it seemed, her feet slowly sinking into the sticky black leaf litter below the surface. There was hardly a breeze, no movement, just the occasional chirp from the Summer’s last Swallow, breaking the silence at this mountain lake. But when you look closely, you see ripples oscillating away from the woman’s body, continuing almost imperceptibly across the lake. Her energy, her life force was affecting the landscape in a clearly visible, tangible way, utter connection between our living organic form and the earth we come from.”
    Swallowed by the Lake
  • 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 />
<br />
This isn't just pandemic madness, I've always done this! The landscape often speaks to me, as I do to it.
    GD002604.jpg
  • 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 />
<br />
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
    GD002373.jpg
  • Once the refuge for renegade tribes, this harsh, jagged-rock landscape is now a place of peace and isolation. The fierce winds whistle and howl their way around the towers of this natural stone fortress, but apart from the occasional call of the Raven, or the drifting chat of the occasional hill walker, this place is more remote than ever, perhaps a days walk from the nearest habitation.<br />
<br />
With the wind blowing her hair, and deliberate careful footsteps, she softly, silently padded up the rough rock pinnacle, as a lioness would, to survey her territory from the highest point in the area. History flooded around her.
    The Fortress
  • After a bitterly cold but sunlit 8.5 mile landscape topography walk, during which we experienced sunburn and snow flurries at the same time, it was a welcome sight to see the gleaming white path leading from the ancient 300ft waterfall of Malham Cove, through the rolling green farmland back into Malham village, where we’d left the van.
    GD002029.jpg
  • One of a very short series of images taken whilst I was being filmed being interviewed by Jamie Owen for a BBC Wales documentary series on Welsh Landscape. It was difficult trying to talk and shoot at the same time but the light was so amazing that I couldn't help shooting these four of five frames for real. They have subsequently been filmed for inclusion within the program!
    GD000472.jpg
  • The sunlight was intense, an all encompassing blanket of dry heat, but here in the bushes a gentle breeze rustled the foliage of wispy trees, creating a coolness in the shade. I was warned about this place, and that I needed to tread carefully to avoid all manner of crawling insects and venomous creatures that thrive in this secluded habitat. Every leaf and even the dead twigs on the ground could all be a hiding place for them.<br />
<br />
So as I beat my way along the overgrown path I was taken-aback by what I stumbled across, lying curled up in a patch of sunlight, pale, delicate skin pressed close against the rough ground and sharp leaf litter. There was no obvious movement, just a slight flex of the muscles upon feeling the vibration of my footsteps. I didn’t know how to proceed as I certainly didn’t want to create any disturbance, and I had no idea what the response would be if woken, so I decided to back-track and find a new way around. I became acutely aware that I really did need to watch every step I took in this African scrubland, as you never know what surprises are at each turn. <br />
<br />
From Glyn Davies’s ongoing book and exhibition project Landscape Figures
    Step Carefully on the Path
  • 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
    GD002020
  • 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.
    GD002003.jpg
  • This is a huge area of industrially scarred landscape. This area has been mined for 4000 years, not 400 but 4000 years! It was once Britain's largest exporter for the precious metal Copper and was known as the copper kingdom. Hundreds of tall ships used nearby Amlwch Harbour to export the material. Now it is unused, though the quality of this ore is outstanding.
    GD000673.jpg
  • I have to be honest, I normally steer well clear of Trearddur, normally populated by hundreds of beachgoers, jet-skis, power boats, 4x4s on the sand, boat trailers and sailing dinghies. The small bay is surrounded on all sides by a hotchpotch of architecture, some interesting, some ghastly, but either way is not a place of peace, tranquility and natural landscape that I normally seek for my imagery.<br />
.<br />
However, during this lockdown I was able to witness a little bit of history, for even on this beautiful blue-sky day there were only a dozen people on the whole beach, and most kept close to the promenade. For the short period of time I was there, looking to create new images for a loyal customer, I had a small sense of how lovely the bay itself actually is, without the crowds. Long foamy pulses of Irish Sea waves pushed themselves up the broad sandy shore, licking their way around the stumps of petrified forest that I'd never seen before and never knew existed.<br />
.<br />
In the distance a dog walker wandered into the burning light and the call of oystercatchers could be heard over the sound of the waves. The virgin sand was mostly unspoiled by footprints and if it were not for the urban skyline I could have imagined myself on an ancient beach, nothing more than a stretch of coastline where the beautiful predictability of high & low tide were all that mattered in the world.
    GD002609.jpg
  • Wales highest mountain, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) hides under sunlit cloud in the background, but the rounded slopes of Mynydd Mawr sit in the middle shot, whilst the craggy narrow Nantlle Ridge can be seen to the right. The deep scarred landscape in front is the Rhosgadfan quarries, now disused.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
    GD001050.jpg
  • My shadow is included to give some sense of scale to this huge area of industrially scarred landscape. This area has been mined for 4000 years, not 400 but 4000 years! It was once Britain's largest exporter for the precious metal Copper and was known as the copper kingdom. Hundreds of tall ships used nearby Amlwch Harbour to export the material. Now it is unused, though the quality of this ore is outstanding.
    GD000048.jpg
  • Honourable Mention in 14th (2021) International Colour Awards (Architecture category)<br />
<br />
Winning entry in the 2019 (31st) SUN Shot up North Awards<br />
<br />
In the middle of nowhere in a vast and inhospitable landscape, we came across an elderly looking man removing large stones from the dirt road. It was certain death in that climate but about a mile further on, we came across this mobile shelter, a workman’s refuge. <br />
It was surreal, almost incongruous in this desert environment. We could only assume that at some point later in the day, a work bus would come and free this man from this vast workplace.
    GD002253.jpg
  • Honourable Mention in 14th (2021) International Colour Awards (Architecture category)<br />
<br />
Winning entry in the 2019 (31st) SUN Shot up North Awards<br />
<br />
In the middle of nowhere in a vast and inhospitable landscape, we came across an elderly looking man removing large stones from the dirt road. It was certain death in that climate but about a mile further on, we came across this mobile shelter, a workman’s refuge. <br />
It was surreal, almost incongruous in this desert environment. We could only assume that at some point later in the day, a work bus would come and free this man from this vast workplace.
    GD002253.jpg
  • After an afternoon of clear blue skies and flat light, the sun finally started to descend towards the sea and as it did so it cast a golden light across the cooling landscape.<br />
<br />
The water ran warm over my feet in the gurgling river that raced to the waters edge, but the virginal sand was almost cold to the touch.<br />
<br />
A lone salmon-coloured cloud floated in a featureless sky, creating a sense of vast distance yet everything was perfect in their purpose.
    GD002102.jpg
  • We found ourselves driving up a volcanic hillside along a heavily rutted dirt track, unable to turn around or reverse back, when all of a sudden we topped the brow of the hill and discovered amazing views and a beautiful textural landscape, as if painted by Andrew Wyeth! Rich earth contrasted with drab greys and sharp grass, shrubs and rock somehow seemed soft when viewed overall.
    GD002070.jpg
  • A cold afternoon on Anglesey's West Coast. The weather was cloudy and showery but from the West sunshine kept breaking through the clouds and scattering around the landscape. The tide was low and the wet sands provided a beautiful surface on which to mirror reflections from the rapidly changing skies.
    GD001904.jpg
  • One of a very short series of images taken whilst I was being filmed being interviewed by Jamie Owen for a BBC Wales documentary series on Welsh Landscape. It was difficult trying to talk and shoot at the same time but the light was so amazing that I couldn't help shooting these four of five frames for real. They have subsequently been filmed for inclusion within the program!
    GD000473.jpg
  • Delicate minimalism in the desert landscapes of Fuerteventura.<br />
<br />
It always feels biblical to me, wandering the desert landscape and coming across life growing in the middle of arid nothingness. The tenacity to survive against all odds, and such gentle, subtle beauty in such a hostile environment. The breeze is never ending on this island, and the leaves rustled over the cool shadows beneath the tree.
    GD001444.jpg
  • Delicate minimalism in the desert landscapes of Fuerteventura.<br />
<br />
It always feels biblical to me, wandering the desert landscape and coming across life growing in the middle of arid nothingness. The tenacity to survive against all odds, and such gentle, subtle beauty in such a hostile environment. The breeze is never ending on this island, and the leaves rustled over the cool shadows beneath the tree.
    GD001442.jpg
  • Abstract landscape in the Dinorwic Quarries near Llanberis, Snowdonia.<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site
    GD000366.jpg
  • A cold afternoon on Anglesey's West Coast. The weather was cloudy and showery but from the West sunshine kept breaking through the clouds and scattering around the landscape. The tide was low and the wet sands provided a beautiful surface on which to mirror reflections from the rapidly changing skies.
    GD001944.jpg
  • I'm always so grateful, that even during periods of great lows, some surprising and exceptionally wonderful moments present themselves, uplifting us and making our hearts beat faster, for good, positive reasons, not for reasons we may have been facing beforehand. <br />
<br />
At an extreme low tide, the lowest I've ever seen on this beach where even a distant boat wreck seemed reachable, I was quite simply blown away by the sheer beauty of the surreal landscape exposed.
    GD002790.jpg
  • Unbelievably rare opportunity to stand alone looking at this lighthouse. Normally there are line-ups of dozens of photographers all vying for position on well-worn perches to photograph this tick-list honeypot. I think this is perhaps only the third time in three decades that I’ve ever stopped on my walk to make a picture, as I just don’t enjoy the jostling with others, I want & need to be alone. I love Ynys Llanddwyn but for me at least, I don’t go to the island for the lighthouse but for the landscape and views over the bay and back to the mainland.<br />
<br />
Today with just the wind whispering in the marram grass, and the sound of waves on the distant shore, it was a perfect opportunity to stand and reflect without distraction upon the original reason for the existence of the lighthouses. I was able to consider the jagged rocky coastline, the character-rich profile of the Eryri mountains in the background and the huge, but very shallow stretch of treacherous sea that separates the land masses. It’s no wonder that a lighthouse was sited here before electronic navigation mitigated their purpose.
    GD002618.jpg
  • Intense winds raced across the surface of this mountain lake, as fast moving clouds scudded over Yr Wyddfa’s sharp peaks. It was fabulous to be up there by myself, not a soul in sight. I absolutely adore having the landscape to myself. It provides an opportunity for thought, reflection and a feeling of utter connection to the earth & elements.
    GD002438.jpg
  • GD001518.jpg
  • Never seen anything like it. We were on the road to wind blown Atlantic coastal town of Luderitz and a few miles before we arrived the effects of the wind could already be seen. At some points you could hardly see in front of the car and at other sand drifts had built across the road. I stepped out of the car on this near deserted road and was instantly sand-blasted by stinging grains of fast-blown crystals. I was amazed that there was even a road as the sand blew so constantly across the landscape.
    GD002286.jpg
  • Nominee in 14th (2021) International Colour Awards (Fine Art category)<br />
<br />
One of the most perfect stretches of road that we found in Namibia. Miles of perfect black tarmac with distinctive white markers created such geometry amongst thousands of acres of desert sand. As with most man-made things that I observed in Namibia, they all seemed slightly incongruous within such vast wilderness landscape.
    GD002285.jpg
  • The landscape altered, subtly at first, but shrubs and small trees started to grip the pure rock and dirt of the previous day. <br />
<br />
Two minutes after this image was taken, a motionless small tree ran across the road in front of us - our first wild ostrich! Nature was quietly making an appearance the further North we drove.
    GD002256.jpg
  • I'm always so grateful, that even during periods of great lows, some surprisng and exceptionally wonderful moments present themselves, uplifting us and making our hearts beat faster, for good, positive reasons, not for reasons we may have been facing beforehand. <br />
<br />
At an extreme low tide, the lowest I've ever seen on this beach where even a distant boat wreck seemed reachable, I was quite simply blown away by the sheer beauty of the surreal landscape exposed.
    GD002754.jpg
  • Such wonderful contrasts in Winter landscape, bright sunshine against snow covered mountains, cool blue seas against warm toned dunes. In winter everythiung just feels so much more real, vital, timeless. Perhaps the non existent crowds, the sound of the ocean and the wind numbing your face, heighten the reality.
    GD002692.jpg
  • More than ever it's now all about escaping the crowds, the noise, the rubbish, the presence of man. Thankfully the crowds seems to concentrate on small areas close to car parks - walk just a mile further and the landscape offers what it's always offered to those who appreciate nature over chaos.
    GD002669.jpg
  • What's been so utterly wonderful this last few months, is the trail-free sky. Week after week of nothing but natural clouds and blue skies. Indeed when you do see a plane people actually notice it & comment upon it. It's so strange that something we took for granted, and accepted as part of our 'natural' world, was actually so prevalent, so intrusive within our vistas and of course so polluting. I've been quite elated at seeing so many landscape scenes as they would have been seen a hundred and more years ago, visually unspoiled (if we ignore the plastic pollution on every Anglesey & North Wales beach of course!)
    GD002627.jpg
  • Nominee in 14th (2021) International Colour Awards (Fine Art category)<br />
<br />
One of the most perfect stretches of road that we found in Namibia. Miles of perfect black tarmac with distinctive white markers created such geometry amongst thousands of acres of desert sand. As with most man-made things that I observed in Namibia, they all seemed slightly incongruous within such vast wilderness landscape.
    GD002285.jpg
  • 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.
    GD002617.jpg
  • I'm always searching for a particular ‘secret image’ at Llanddwyn but I now believe that I won't ever find it. However on my search I came across this beautiful ‘zone’ where grasses and shapes and structure were simply wonderful. The sun came out whilst I was shooting, but it simply didn't work as a photo, it needed the overcast lighting.  It's quite an alien landscape which is continually evolving due to the exposed windy location.
    GD002615.jpg
  • I have to be honest, I normally steer well clear of Trearddur, normally populated by hundreds of beachgoers, jet-skis, power boats, 4x4s on the sand, boat trailers and sailing dinghies. The small bay is surrounded on all sides by a hotchpotch of architecture, some interesting, some ghastly, but either way is not a place of peace, tranquility and natural landscape that I normally seek for my imagery.  <br />
<br />
However, during this lockdown I was able to witness a little bit of history, for even on this beautiful blue-sky day there were only a dozen people on the whole beach, and most kept close to the promenade. For the short period of time I was there, looking to create new images for a loyal customer, I had a small sense of how lovely the bay itself actually is, without the crowds. Long foamy pulses of Irish Sea waves pushed themselves up the broad sandy shore, licking their way around the stumps of petrified forest that I'd never seen before and never knew existed.<br />
<br />
 In the distance a dog walker wandered into the burning light and the call of oystercatchers could be heard over the sound of the waves. The virgin sand was mostly unspoiled by footprints and if it were not for the urban skyline I could have imagined myself on an ancient beach, nothing more than a stretch of coastline where the beautiful predictability of high & low tide were all that mattered in the world.
    GD002607.jpg
  • 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.
    GD002584.jpg
  • 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 />
<br />
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.
    GD002496.jpg
  • Landscape Figures project
    Sparkling Spring Water
  • 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.
    GD002374.jpg
  • In a landscape that seems so barren, pockets of life form a sort of vegetated oasis. Where there are trickles of water during rain, shrubs grow. Where shrubs grow tress seem to grow, and where trees grow dozens of Weaver Birds flit in and out of huge nests that they have built in the branches. The tree of life is such a cliché but this dead tree really was enabling bird life at least, to survive in these harsh conditions.
    GD002280.jpg
  • After wild and exposed stretches of the Skeleton Coast, we drove past the very busy port of Walvis Bay. The differences were huge, the narrow but endless roads were suddenly busy with heavy trucks and traffic leaving and entering the port. As we drove further south however the traffic eased once again, but signs of man, settlement and ‘civilisation’ were present for many miles further before gradually evaporating once again. These man-made structures appeared incongruous in the blowing desert sands, creating a surreal landscape of man and nature, but more than that – it was the tenacity of man and invention that enables society to survive in otherwise barren terrain.
    GD002274.jpg
  • The story goes that someone tried to drive his 4x4 across this vast lake bed, and was never seen again’ <br />
<br />
A hundred million years ago this huge basin in the Etosha National Park was a lake, fed by the Kunene River in Angola, but 16,000 years ago, due to tectonic plate movement the river was diverted West to the Atlantic and gradually the lake dried up leaving this vast lake bed. At 4800 km² this saltpan, the largest in Africa, can be seen from space.<br />
<br />
I’d wanted to see this surreal landscape for a long time, and surprising though it may seem to others, this appealed to me even more than seeing the wildlife in the park! There is this deep need within me to experience vast empty spaces; it’s all part of that humbling vulnerability that I seek. I wanted to feel minute, isolated and insignificant in every possible term. It was difficult of course with anyone else around but fortunately I had a sense of it with just Jani and her two cousins around. We drove out onto the lake (on an ‘official’ stick marked track) and stepped into the baking heat. There was simply nothing ahead of us, almost 50kms to the far side and almost 60 kms to the left and right – it was vast indeed.<br />
<br />
The earth was soft and crumbly rather than rock hard. I can imagine in rain it would get very soft indeed. I’ve read that in prolonged heavy rain the whole lake bed floods up to 10cm deep creating an incredible mirror –like surface which attracts thousands of migrating flamingos.
    GD002263.jpg
  • Vast plains of lush looking crops stretch right across the enormous valleys, from mountain ridge to mountain ridge.  The roads are long and near deserted and houses and hamlets are few and far between. A VERY impressive landscape.
    GD002170.jpg
  • In the heat haze shimmering over this vast South African landscape, isolated trees formed some of the only features that stood out against this minimalist topography
    GD002163.jpg
  • Vast harvested fields on the Western Cape, South Africa. I was surprised, being my first visit to Africa, just how lush and productive the land is in this region.
    GD002117.jpg
  • Driving through the Timanfaya National Park on Lanzarote, the signs of volcanic activity are abundant and striking. Here a whole mountain has blown apart leaving just jagged ridges above the numerous craters. It has an alien other-worldly feel in this place and it’s no wonder they tested lunar landing robots here.  The forces of nature here are so striking and it’s hard to imagine the sounds that must have been caused by such huge explosions.
    GD002064.jpg
  • A tiny succulent plant survives tenaciously in this sun baked, hot and arid volcanic lava field, with Timanfaya (Fire Mountain) National Park in the background.
    GD001814.jpg
  • Original blog post here:<br />
http://www.glynsblog.com/2011/09/naked-landscape-beginning.html<br />
<br />
One of a series dealing with intimate magical mini landscapes of trees and woodlands
    GD001321.jpg
  • 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.
    GD002588.jpg
  • 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.
    GD002583.jpg
  • Beyond the vast open landscape, bathed in low winter sunshine, snowclouds dropped their delicate loads over the Strait and Welsh mountains.
    GD002580.jpg
  • So strange seeing popular places near deserted, and equally so beautiful and calming - no excited shouting, screaming kids, dog-calling, drones, lines of people on a mission to honey pots locations and a deserted lighthouse. I imagined that going back 40 years or more, maybe this was the norm, that you’d only ever see a handful of people the whole walk? The landscape felt different. It felt more wild, more desolate, more natural, more timeless, more spiritual. <br />
<br />
I guess to find this sort of calm solitude; refreshing mental freedom; we’d have to travel much further afield. Anglesey is now a playground for so many, even mid winter, and whilst it’s always beautiful, it’s rare to find solitude. For many they don’t mind, they even seek the comfort of other people being around, but for me I need total solitude - I need to experience places without seeing anyone - it’s the only way I can allow my mind to connect properly with the planet.
    GD002545.jpg
  • The sun had long set, but in the gathering dusk the subtle hues still looked beautiful. There was barely a breath of wind and only the gentlest of soft ripples radiated across this false bay. A young couple slowly and quietly beached a canoe on a distant pebble bank, two micro figures in a vast watercolour landscape.
    GD002502.jpg
  • I do love silence, well, silence from human noise at least. This evening was so quiet that I could hear the almost imperceptible sound of the rising tide creeping up the shoreline, spilling into tiny ripples in the sand banks and flooding into small sand pools. As often here on the Afon Menai, I could hear the isolated sounds of two waders, a solitary Oystercatcher flitting over the surface of the strait, and a Curlew feeding on the rapidly disappearing shoreline.<br />
.<br />
It was yet another dull summer day, wind, rain and eventually a heavy, deadening mizzle, and yet there was also a delicate beauty about the subtly changing scene. The grey sky-blanket wasn't really solid, but an ever-morphing backdrop of monochromatic tones, more like a vaporous dance of silks on a washing line.<br />
.<br />
Once again I sheltered under a huge brolly, a dark, warm cove of protection from the elements racing in from the open sea to the West. The landscape became a view, separated from me until I lowered the brolly and felt the full effect of wind-blown rain on my face, smacking me back to reality. It was hard to believe such a pastel scene could exist within the wintry elements all about.
    GD002498.jpg
  • I think most of my family, friends & followers of my work have seen how far I’ve been sinking since lockdown started back in Africa in March. I haven’t coped that well with losing access to one of the main cures for my darkness, getting out into the landscape & nature. It’s been a real battle internally and I felt I was losing a grip on what life was about, so many waves of loss, fear and entrapment. <br />
<br />
So with the latest minimal change to Welsh lockdown rules, and the ability to drive five miles to meet friends or get exercise, it’s been euphoric for me. My first walk up a small hill, just to be in the mountains again, was as if it was my first time! My heart literally was pounding with excitement and I found myself grinning constantly as I ascended the hill. I found it remarkable to just watch my feet in their walking shoes, taking steps up rocks and grass covered slopes. The wind was cold and I’d delayed the start of the walk to allow a heavy hail shower to pass over, but when the June sunshine appeared it bathed me in warmth and joy. <br />
<br />
From the summit I was able to see all the major peaks, the Carneddau, Tryfan, the Glyderau, Yr Wyddfa, Garnedd Elidir, and even Yr Eifel on the Llyn. A couple passed me on their way down and after an awkward, socially distanced acknowledgement as is the way these days, I saw no one for the rest of the time in the hills. It was the sort of solitude I yearn for, the solitude of choice not the solitude of jail.   <br />
<br />
Shortly before another heavy hail shower, which lasted almost half an hour, I found myself enchanted by the morphing dark clouds over the Carneddau, even their ominous depth seemed magical and awesome. Quite suddenly an intense beam of warm sunshine split the sombre scene and caressed its way up and over Foel Meirch until it ticked the shrouded summit of Carnedd Dafydd. It was my perfect light, theatrical and dramatic, a play with no characters, just backdrops. <br />
<br />
I sat on the summit, alone and happy in my own thou
    GD002484.jpg
  • In a landscape that seems so barren, pockets of life form a sort of vegetated oasis. Where there are trickles of water during rain, shrubs grow. Where shrubs grow tress seem to grow, and where trees grow dozens of Weaver Birds flit in and out of huge nests that they have built in the branches. The tree of life is such a cliché but this dead tree really was enabling bird life at least, to survive in these harsh conditions.
    GD002281.jpg
  • A hundred million years ago this huge basin in the Etosha National Park was a lake, fed by the Kunene River in Angola, but 16,000 years ago, due to tectonic plate movement the river was diverted West to the Atlantic and gradually the lake dried up leaving this vast lake bed. At 4800 km² this saltpan, the largest in Africa, can be seen from space.<br />
<br />
I’d wanted to see this surreal landscape for a long time, and surprising though it may seem to others, this appealed to me even more than seeing the wildlife in the park! There is this deep need within me to experience vast empty spaces; it’s all part of that humbling vulnerability that I seek. I wanted to feel minute, isolated and insignificant in every possible term. It was difficult of course with anyone else around but fortunately I had a sense of it with just Jani and her two cousins around. We drove out onto the lake (on an ‘official’ stick marked track) and stepped into the baking heat. There was simply nothing ahead of us, almost 50kms to the far side and almost 60 kms to the left and right – it was vast indeed.<br />
<br />
The earth was soft and crumbly rather than rock hard. I can imagine in rain it would get very soft indeed. I’ve read that in prolonged heavy rain the whole lake bed floods up to 10cm deep creating an incredible mirror –like surface which attracts thousands of migrating flamingos.
    GD002260.jpg
  • We look towards the clouds blowing towards, the river flowing towards the lure of the sunlit Harlech Bay.
    GD001130.jpg
  • Ostriches dotted the rolling landscape on the Garden Route in South Africa. The hills were massive, but the low swirling cloud made them appear even bigger. I kept pinching myself to keep things real as everything just seemed so ‘surreal’ – ostriches as numerous and widespread as sheep in Wales!<br />
<br />
What I have noticed is that the heat haze, which was visible to the human eye, is particularly obvious when shooting on the 100-400mm Fuji on the XT2. The heat haze seems magnified creating a rather painterly effect when viewing the image in close up.
    GD002164.jpg
  • Nominated in 2022 International Colour Awards<br />
<br />
Honourable Mention in 2022 International Colour Awards<br />
<br />
UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
Subtle washes of sunlight permeate the winter gloom and illuminate isolated sections of this ancient Welsh landscape. Elidir Fawr becomes a snow-capped volcano and Y Garn sits solemnly in the shadows behind. A single crow flies across the void between me and the distant peaks, its call echoing sharply in the valley below.
    GD002005
  • 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.
    GD002582.jpg
  • Major feature interview about my Landscape Photography of North Wales, Snowdonia & Anglesey<br />
<br />
BUY A COPY HERE https://bit.ly/3lpG2gY
    Outdoor Photography Magazine - Aug 2020
  • A hundred million years ago this huge basin in the Etosha National Park was a lake, fed by the Kunene River in Angola, but 16,000 years ago, due to tectonic plate movement the river was diverted West to the Atlantic and gradually the lake dried up leaving this vast lake bed. At 4800 km² this saltpan, the largest in Africa, can be seen from space.<br />
<br />
I’d wanted to see this surreal landscape for a long time, and surprising though it may seem to others, this appealed to me even more than seeing the wildlife in the park! There is this deep need within me to experience vast empty spaces; it’s all part of that humbling vulnerability that I seek. I wanted to feel minute, isolated and insignificant in every possible term. It was difficult of course with anyone else around but fortunately I had a sense of it with just Jani and her two cousins around. We drove out onto the lake (on an ‘official’ stick marked track) and stepped into the baking heat. There was simply nothing ahead of us, almost 50kms to the far side and almost 60 kms to the left and right – it was vast indeed.<br />
<br />
The earth was soft and crumbly rather than rock hard. I can imagine in rain it would get very soft indeed. I’ve read that in prolonged heavy rain the whole lake bed floods up to 10cm deep creating an incredible mirror –like surface which attracts thousands of migrating flamingos.
    GD002259.jpg
  • The weather was building over the hills and a strong breeze pushed the cloud shadows over the hillsides at a striking speed. Gradually the scene became darker but isolated patches of intense sunlight splashed the landscape for just a few moments at a time in this quiet Welsh valley.
    GD002087.jpg
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