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  • Strong wind blowing the Marram grasses on these large sand dunes at Aberffraw, West Anglesey. The private Bodorgan Estate can be seen to the left, with the mountains of the Llyn Peninsula on mainland Wales can be seen in the background. Waves push at the shoreline and the wind creates sea spray off those breaking waves.
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  • Wind formed shapes in the Llanddwyn sand dunes, West Anglesey, Wales<br />
<br />
No.7 in this Wind Formed series dealing with the fantastic wind carvings in sand, notably at the Newborough sand dunes on Anglesey.
    GD001440.jpg
  • Wind blown Marram grass catches the last of the sunlight as the weather changes and a gale advances over the Irish Sea here at Porth Tyn Tywyn, Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales.
    GD001917.jpg
  • Bright sunshine reveals circular wind formed shapes in the Llanddwyn sand dunes, with sunlit clouds above, and the Llyn Peninsula on the mainland in the far distance.
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  • Wind formed shapes in the Llanddwyn sand dunes, with crepuscular rays in the skies behind. <br />
<br />
A lone walk on a beautiful winters day, from Newborough to Abermenai to relook for Beautiful Silent Danger! It would be nice to say it was just the sound of birdsong and trickling water but an enless drone of planes and unadventurous circling microlights shattered an otherwise magical escape.
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  • A small area of tall reeds in an expanse of marshland gets the full brunt of the wind, the direction highlighted by bent shaped stems in the foreground, whilst the clouds race over from West to East.
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  • Nominated in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Nature category) <br />
<br />
"This is from a series I was working on, looking at the amazing shapes created by the force of the wind. Here at Llanddwyn where the dunes face the endless breeze from the Irish Sea, spectacular circular shapes can be found carved into the sandy hills. The light is characteristic of this area, with dark clouds over the mountains and occasional brilliant sunshine bouncing off the surface of the sea. It’s wild and elemental but always captivating”
    GD000729.jpg
  • I sat above the vast bowl of Cwm Marchlyn just staring at the dark water in the reservoir below. Random gusts from a stiff breeze punched the surface of the lake creating the most wonderful and mesmerising abstract movies. It was impossible to tell where the next impact flower would appear. I was lost in the performance as the wind sang to me through the rocks I was crouched amongst.
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  • The low stunted bush obviously betrays the powerful and ever present prevailing winds from the Irish Sea. In fact the whole land on which this tree sits is a mass of once shifting sand dune, slowly and tenaciously reclaimed by grasses, mosses and finally plant life.
    GD000574.jpg
  • Patterns caused by wind blowing different weight sands across the vast wind swept beach of Morfa Dyffryn near Barmouth, Mid Wales. <br />
<br />
We turned North and immediately felt the full brunt of the Northerly gale in our faces. Progress was not difficult but was definitely slow. The wind was so strong that sheets of sand were lifted off the beach and blown towards us like swirling fog around our feet. A dog in the distance jumps for a stick and travels 20 feet before landing ! It sorted "men from the boys" as they say, and I noticed a few beach visitors start in this direction then turn back very quickly, but Carol and I were on a mission to get to the far point and the estuary beyond, and it was maybe two miles of beach walk against this headwind. I was blown away [pun intended] by the patterns and tones caused by the sheets of wind-driven sand over the shore, it really was like looking down at the earth whilst flying through low cloud but anything taller than one foot or so remained clear and static, betraying the impression!
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  • Heavy rain showers and icy winds blow across Llanddwyn Island towards Llanddwyn Beach and the Anglesey mainland. The water surface in the sand pools shows the effects of the wind by the ripples on the surface.
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  • Shot whilst being filmed for a French TV channel. I took the crew to Newborough where we discussed my 'Wind Formed' series, looking at the shapes and patterns within the sand caused by effects of the wind. This series started in about 2006. It was almost impossible to create anything worthwhile when a crew requests where to stand and where to look and when to chat but I was happy enough with this grab shot for them to use it within the feature.
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  • I could see this Tor from miles away, in every direction! It loomed, dark and strange, like a battleship on the horzon. As I got closer, it really was isolated from everything else. Only masses of wind blown grass, tangled brush wood, and hidden holes prevented access. It was a very spritual place for me, and finally climbing to it's dark, slightly green top, I felt privileged to be there, surveying the surrounding lands right down to the Atlantic.
    GD000475v2.jpg
  • Brilliant sunshine and gale force winds made for an incredible light over the cove of Porth Trecastell.<br />
<br />
As I stood on the cliff top and looked towards the horizon, I had the illusion of low flying over the long wind-blown Marram Grass and the sand of the cove beyond. <br />
<br />
I felt uplifted in so many ways. This was a place I’ve swam and surfed and taken the kids swimming. My life is racing on at such a pace, history left in my wake and yet, the place remains fundamentally unchanged, and will create many more memories for so many more people in the future after my own lights have dimmed. A very special place.
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  • Even as I stood under my huge brolly, with the rain lashing at my back, the wind eddied rain drops onto my lens regardless. This is one of the most popular bucket & spade beaches on Ynys Môn hence my usually giving it an extremely wide berth, but today, even without continued lockdown, the rain kept most people away. I actually loved the view; I loved the minimalist simplicity of it all; the vast stretch of water, the ship in the distance waiting for pilotage to Liverpool; the gusts of wind ruffling the surface of the Irish Sea, and the misty distant island headlands. For the first time in years, I felt connected to this beach, a place I could relate to and allow my mind to wander in. In the silent downpour I felt peace.
    GD002495.jpg
  • Gentle patterns of wind blown ripples, delicate peninsulas of sand and fast moving sheets of cloud with the unmistakeable Llyn Peninsula and it’s classic peaks.
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  • Wind blows through soft rushes surrounding isolated bare trees at the lakeside of Llyn Gwynant glacial lake in the wide valley of Nant Gwynant in the heart of Snowdonia, Wales. The lower foothills of Wales' highest mountain, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) can be seen on the far side of the lake.
    GD000928.jpg
  • Bright red bench atthe end of the pier in Beaumaris, Anglesey, with stormy winter weather over the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia and tje wind swept Menai Strait in the middle & far distance. The pier has been altered since this image to take a floating pontoon
    GD000557.jpg
  • Wind formed shapes in the Llanddwyn sand dunes, with crepuscular rays in the skies behind.
    GD000728.jpg
  • Wind blown rushes behind the beach at Aberffraw at West Anglesey, Wales
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  • Wind blown sand ripples at the mouth of the Malltraeth Estuary where it joins the Irish Sea at Llanddwyn Beach
    GD001193.jpg
  • White bunting adorned every street, and the tiny white flags buzzed in the strong Atlantic breeze blowing over the Canary Islands. In the hot streets the cooling effect of the wind was extremely welcome
    GD002059.jpg
  • There are some images that really should be video, not stills. I think maybe this is one of them. I like the image but only because of my memory of the event; sheets of sand were lifting in the gale and blowing at high speed towards me. The stream was almost gurgling as it tumbled to meet the sea and a flock of geese were chatting to each other as they dabbled in the pebbly sand pools. There was so much going on and so much to hear that I'm not sure any still image begins to describe the beauty of it all. <br />
<br />
I have a feeling that I really need to start shooting 'moving stills', not video as such, just still frames where the world moves within the frame. To share my experiences with others, I feel there are occasions where extra information is needed, audio & movement at least. Now HOW do I record & synchronise the sounds of my scene with the camera - a whole new world of learning & I'm not sure I have enough years left to learn!
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  • Prints up to A3 only<br />
<br />
Another swim during terrible weather. I found this sheltered little cove to swim in during the arrival of Storm Franklin. For some reason the sea was now 8.4º, still cold but half a degree warmer than of late.
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  • Wind blown rushes behind the beach at Aberffraw at West Anglesey, Wales
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  • This really is the season of storms and gales. After days of torrential rain, fingers of sunshine searched through layers of cloud trying to make a clearing. I grabbed the opportunity after work today to see if I could catch any of this dramatic light. At the coast the light had already subdued but the wind remained extremely breezy. I carried just one camera and one lens and left the tripod in the van. I had literally just 10 minutes of tantalising sunset before dusk drew a darkening curtain across the windswept stage
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  • From a lofty hilltop two hundred or more feet above the sea at North Anglesey, we could smell the sea air. Wave crests were breaking into spindrift and salty spray was funnelled up gullies in the cliffs below to fill our lungs with ocean gale.<br />
<br />
The clouds were changing by the second as they raced overhead, casting wonderfully animated shadows of strange figures on the sea below. Apart from the solid headland of Holyhead Mountain in the distance, the only other constant was the brilliant intensity of spring sunshine, shimmering on the millions of waves fetching across the bay. This was real exposure to the elements and from this high up, standing right at the cliff edge, it felt as though we were flying, carried by thermals almost literally lifting us off our feet.<br />
<br />
On the horizon a ferry noses out of Holyhead Harbour, beginning its three hour voyage upon choppy open waters to Southern Ireland seventy three miles away. I'm with my brother who I haven't walked with for many years, but we used to climb together, sail together and drink together; near inseparable until our late twenties. As we continued our cliff-top ramble, both clutching our walking poles and grumbling about the state of our threadbare knee joints, I realised that the only thing as eternal as the movement of wind, waves and tide, was the love between us brothers, all of us brothers. Although our separate lives are racing by faster than we would like, and that we will become just someone else's memories, these beautiful, wild, universal elements will be there for an eternity, bringing similar humbling joy to others in the future.
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  • Strong winds and inclement weather sweep over the huge sand dunes at Llanddwyn, Anglesey. The sunset provided bursts of sunshine over this Marram Grass strewn landscape.
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  • Strong winds and inclement weather sweep over the huge sand dunes at Llanddwyn, Anglesey. The sunset provided bursts of sunshine over this Marram Grass strewn landscape.
    GD001188.jpg
  • Huge cumulonimbus clouds catch the evening sunset above wind-blown Marram grass covering sand dunes at Llanddwyn Beach, West Anglesey
    GD001186.jpg
  • Winter winds blew across the beach; small ripples radiated across the wide sand sea water pools and clouds raced overhead. Such beauty, such awe and such contrast. As I stood and watched the sunset play before me, cold air crept down my neck and I realised just how easy it is to be fooled by beauty.
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  • Possibly the strongest winds I’ve ever battled against; so strong that I was knocked sideways twice by gale-force gusts. My face and camera were sandblasted by the stinging particles, and yet, I was equally blown-away and utterly invigorated by the power of it all. The flying sheets of sand were side-lit by blazing sunshine, not long before towering walls of darkness moved in rapidly from the West. I took some other versions of this image where it literally looks I'm walking on clouds of sand, but I wanted to retain the visual of these boulders in the foreground, which became obscured in the other views.
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  • Boat wreck in wintry, showery weather and high winds, at low tide at Cymyran beach near RAF Valley, West Anglesey.
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  • Rough surf from the Irish Sea in stormy weather forces it's way into the narrow cove of Porth Trecastell (Cable Bay) West Anglesey, Wales. On the windswept headland, Sea Pink (Thrift) blows amongst long grass covering the burial mound of Barclodiad Y Gawres,
    GD000723.jpg
  • Rough seas from stormy weather crash against the cliffs at the headland of Porth Trecastell (Cable Bay) West Anglesey, Wales. Sea Pink (Thrift) blows amongst thr rocky cliff top as surf crashes into the cove below.
    GD000721.jpg
  • With just an hour or so to spare after a dreary day on Anglesey, I headed for the coast just for the heck of it, one of my usual haunts simply because it's vast, open and easy escapism. Having enjoyed some contemplative observation in the gentle gloom, I became aware that the ambient light had increased.  When I turned around the dunes were on fire, a blazing torch of orange light was burning over the Irish Sea and the the sky was fluxing from blue to pink. The fresh salty air was now blowing in my face and I felt liberated and ecstatic, for I also knew this momentary pleasure would be over in a flash.
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  • Barmouth Beach, looking North towards the Llyn Peninsula
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  • A dense reed bed behind the beach at Llugwy, East Anglesey, at dusk
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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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  • South Stack lighthouse, Holy Island, Anglesey, Ynys Môn. c1809 - Electrified in 1938 - Automated in 1984. 440 steps lead from the 200ft cliff top down to the bridge across the gorge below. We can also see here the RSPB Bird watching tower called Ellin's Tower.
    GD000394.jpg
  • It's very hard for me to tell whether this is Wheat or the very similar Barley, but what fascinated me about this lush scene, even in the drab weather, was the subtle difference shift between the greener ears in the middle distance and the yellower ears all around. Everything was blowing quickly in the strong North Westerly breeze but somehow the greener stems seemed stronger, more static and stood apart in the crowd, so similar, yet so different..
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  • A tallship passes Crosby Beach into the Irish Sea, after leaving Liverpool on the river Mersey.
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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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  • Colourful sunset reflected on wet beach, pools and the sea itself, at the coast at Rhosneigr, West Anglesey, Wales
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  • Evening sunlight catching the Cornish flag at the stern of the St Mawes Ferry having crossed the Carric Roads in windy wet weather, forming a rainbow of the St Just in Roseland headland. A sailing yacht makes it's way out past Falmouth Docks into Falmouth Bay.
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  • Stormy conditions at this usually calm, beautiful, summer beach, acres of sand under clear waters, usually!
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  • A gentle breeze searched through the undergrowth for me, the ancient burial mound beyond the hill had witnessed me, I had walked in my ancestors footprints. Even as I tried to leave the place I was being watched.
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  • The morning sunshine burned through the cool March air and for a moment it appeared as if summer. <br />
<br />
Nestling into the back of this peaceful cove are the Victorian silica brickworks of Porth Wen. Today the silence was only broken by the call of Oystercatcher and the twitter of sparrows in the hedges behind me,  so different to the noise of the industry here before 1949. I’m always fascinated by the way nature gradually reclaims man’s footprints, but in the meantime I enjoy a glimpse at history, and the chance to imagine what once was.
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  • A container ship passes Crosby Beach into the Irish Sea, after leaving Liverpool on the river Mersey.  Two sculptures by the artist Sir Antony Mark David Gormley, OBE look on, positined as they are for his landscape artwork, "Another Place"
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  • As Storm Imogen makes her first appearance, and dark clouds build on the the horizon, I find myself fascinated by the sheer variety of beautiful coloured stones lying just beneath the surface of the sand pools before an incoming tide. The weather created dreary conditions but every so often gentle glimmers of light illuminated this wet world, a world that has seen rain for almost three months solid. It was so lovely to find such intriguing beauty in such inclement weather
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  • No matter how difficult life seems to be, no matter how tenuous our grip on it, we have the potential to survive most things, to grow amongst darkness and to retain a beauty and importance no matter how delicate that may be. This tree is growing on exposed barren land, with nothing but sand and a thin layer of soil beneath, but it survives all nature throws at it.
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  • The Sprig air was warm and a Westerly breeze blew in from the Irish Sea into this small lush valley. The reeds and grasses swayed heavily towards me creating a whispering sound over the gurgle of the brook beneath.
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  • Rare snow on a shingle beach near Penmon village, East Anglesey, looking across the Menai Strait towards the snowcapped mountains of Snowdonia in the background
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  • South Stack lighthouse, Holy Island, Anglesey, Ynys Môn. c1809 - Electrified in 1938 - Automated in 1984. 440 steps lead from the 200ft cliff top down to the bridge across the gorge below. We can also see here the RSPB Bird watching tower called Ellin's Tower.
    GD000394-BW.jpg
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  • A couple walking their dog in early summer heat at Crosby Beach, Liverpool.
    GD002036.jpg
  • Windswept Broad Beach at Rhosneigr, West Anglesey, Wales, in a gale and rainy weather at sunset..
    GD000672.jpg
  • Welsh mountain sheep pens lie desolate in the bitter winds and snow and there was silence all around save for the wind through the cold stone walls. In the summer there is no such solitude, and the sounds of the sheep return with the sounds of walkers.
    GD001054.jpg
  • No.6 in this Wind Formed series dealing with the fantastic wind carvings in sand, notably at the Newborough sand dunes on Anglesey.
    GD001439.jpg
  • Storm Barra brought 66 mph gales onto the west coast of the tiny Ynys Mon (Isle of Anglesey) today.  The winds made it near impossible to walk, but strangely, the waves didn't look gigantic as they do in Cornwall, but they were huge for North Wales. <br />
<br />
Every now and then, holes appeared in the sky and brightness illuminated the stormy seas below. I shot just three frames before unwrapping two lobster pots & a huge length of rope that had wrapped itself around a small sea stack (using just my penknife to cut the ropes & massive brute force to lift the pots from the wave battered rocks). I returned to the van in darkness & still hammered by torrential rain.
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  • 710 square kilometres of incredible white gypsum, that in the evening light pouring over the San Andreas Mountains turned vivid hues of pink & purple. Gentle ripples formed in the sand where this damp and binding mineral has been blown by regular strong winds. <br />
<br />
To the North, almost 60% of these white sand gypsum dunes are still used for military weapons and missile testing - the first Fat Man plutonium bomb was tested in the Northern dunes.  <br />
<br />
And yet, there was such a quietness there, calm and even solitude when you walked a little further into the dunes. We did two visits to this National Monument, and honestly, I could have spent many MANY more days in the minimalist nothingness.
    GD002516.jpg
  • Life grows in the graveyard at Aberdaron. The graves all face out to the Irish Sea, the prevailing winds and the sunsets. If spirits really do exist, than I can think of no finer place to rest, a harbour where many pilgrims have rested on their way to the final destination, the small Celtic Island of Ynys Enlli.
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  • The early morning sunshine cast an almost perfect shadow of one of the huge cog-wheels onto the nearby wall. It was fun to line up all three elements, linking shadows to reality. The visible shadow is a metaphor for so much of what one ‘feels’ at Y Nant; there is nothing ‘actually there’ but nevertheless we sense things and can sometimes even believe we are seeing things. The history, the topography, the remnants of what was, and the present landscape all blend together at Nant, and this blend for me at least is its ‘spirit’.
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  • UNESCO World Heritage Site<br />
<br />
The most incredible sunset over the industrial relics of the Dinorwic slate quarries in Snowdonia. It was so peaceful up there, absolute silence as I studied the clouds gently mutating in the rich sunset over Yr Wyddfa, Wales’ highest mountain.
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  • The days are drawing in and the comforting warmth and brilliant light of summer is gradually being replaced with gales and rain. <br />
<br />
The girl from the forest heads towards the light and pushes through the last trees, finding herself at the shore of a great lake.  The contrast between the stillness and relative silence of the trees is in stark contrast to the heavy weather fetching at speed across the water’s surface. It takes her by surprise, buffeting her tiny figure and she holds onto low branches for support. <br />
<br />
Her hair blows wildly behind her in the wind and she is acutely aware of the rushes caressing her legs and spray from the waves pinpricking her naked flesh, but she revels in these sensations. Her senses are heightened and the place and the moment are a catalyst for her thoughts about her existence and a reminder that the cycle of the seasons is unavoidable and that nature is everything.
    When the Wind Blows
  • Spring Trees in the Gwynant Valley. The wind ws cold from the North but the sun was warm out of the wind.
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  • As is the way with my days off these days, there is no rush ever. Jan works long days and even longer nights in an intensive care department and there is NO shift pattern at all to allow a person’s body clock to plan the week. Her need for sleep catch up is vital, so I have learned not to expect a 7am leap out of bed, and instead to respect her body clock readjustment time. It doesn’t stop me getting fidgety however if the light looks amazing, and the day is going by :-)<br />
<br />
It was Sunday however, and for Jan a rare Sunday off, so whatever! The weather forecast was for brightness, light cloud, zero chance of rain and plenty of sunshine later. We could do a lazy leisurely hill walk later with no worries about the elements or timings. I didn’t really absorb the additional information I skimmed through on the mountain weather forecast though, which indicated freezing level at summits and 45mph winds. Nevertheless we threw in our Paramo’s and Rab wind proofs just in case, along with two flasks of steaming hot coffee.<br />
<br />
At about 2pm we started the one hour drive towards the distinctive pyramid shaped mountain called Cnicht. I haven’t done it for couple of years and I love the mountain (approximately 2200 feet). I have done it from the very meandrous North side and also from the shadowy East facing quarry valley of Cwm Orthin, which was today’s plan as I wanted to show Jan the old quarry workings. However, as part of her prep for some bigger mountains in the next few weeks she said she’d prefer a steep ascent, so we headed for Croesor on the brighter West side instead. This was a first for me too which was nice, making our way up the classic West ridge.<br />
<br />
We decided to have a cuppa and a sandwich in the cafe in the tiny, sleepy hamlet of Croesor but the cafe was so asleep it was closed! I was really surprised, this being the Easter break and a car park packed with walkers’ vehicles. We started up the long, bouldery woodland track before exiting right up towards
    GD001737.jpg
  • As is the way with my days off these days, there is no rush ever. Jan works long days and even longer nights in an intensive care department and there is NO shift pattern at all to allow a person’s body clock to plan the week. Her need for sleep catch up is vital, so I have learned not to expect a 7am leap out of bed, and instead to respect her body clock readjustment time. It doesn’t stop me getting fidgety however if the light looks amazing, and the day is going by :-)<br />
<br />
It was Sunday however, and for Jan a rare Sunday off, so whatever! The weather forecast was for brightness, light cloud, zero chance of rain and plenty of sunshine later. We could do a lazy leisurely hill walk later with no worries about the elements or timings. I didn’t really absorb the additional information I skimmed through on the mountain weather forecast though, which indicated freezing level at summits and 45mph winds. Nevertheless we threw in our Paramo’s and Rab wind proofs just in case, along with two flasks of steaming hot coffee.<br />
<br />
At about 2pm we started the one hour drive towards the distinctive pyramid shaped mountain called Cnicht. I haven’t done it for couple of years and I love the mountain (approximately 2200 feet). I have done it from the very meandrous North side and also from the shadowy East facing quarry valley of Cwm Orthin, which was today’s plan as I wanted to show Jan the old quarry workings. However, as part of her prep for some bigger mountains in the next few weeks she said she’d prefer a steep ascent, so we headed for Croesor on the brighter West side instead. This was a first for me too which was nice, making our way up the classic West ridge.<br />
<br />
We decided to have a cuppa and a sandwich in the cafe in the tiny, sleepy hamlet of Croesor but the cafe was so asleep it was closed! I was really surprised, this being the Easter break and a car park packed with walkers’ vehicles. We started up the long, bouldery woodland track before exiting right up towards
    GD001736.jpg
  • I'd headed for Dinas Dinlle simply because I thought my Mum & Dad might be going there, but the car park was empty. I geared up and sat for a short while looking at the amazing sight before me, the salt spray covering the windscreen and the van being rocked by the gales, almost 100 mph they said today in the UK. Jeremy Vine was on the radio chatting with those trapped by the gales, but the sunlight here was intesne and positive, the wind fely like a heart beat and pull of the outdoors was greater than the force used to seal the van door closed. ..As I sat there, a small black car turned up, and there was my Dad, smiling at me through the front window, Mum waving at me lovingly fron the passenger seat. Dad and I went for a walk together whilst Mum sheltered in the car. I was intent on taking pictures, and my Dad was doing his best to be close but not too close. I watched him as he huddled over the debris washed up on the high tide mark, beachcoming like he'd always done with us as kids, and I felt very very sad. My Dad is getting older, mid 70s now, and he struggles more with things he'd once have taken in his stride...He said he was going to head back to have a coffee with Mum, and I said I'd take a few more shots then join them, but as I watched his slightly unstable retreat back towards the car, blown sideways by the wind, I couldn't take any more images, and I made my way back to join them. The cafe was shut. They made their way home whilst I stayed for the last of the light on this stormy beach. It was a day where I was being torn apart, emotionally, physically and spiritually. ..I called in on them on the way home, and chatted for hours. It's funny isn't it, that even the most stunning things on the planet, pale into significance when you consider real love, and real loss.
    GD001365.jpg
  • As is the way with my days off these days, there is no rush ever. Jan works long days and even longer nights in an intensive care department and there is NO shift pattern at all to allow a person’s body clock to plan the week. Her need for sleep catch up is vital, so I have learned not to expect a 7am leap out of bed, and instead to respect her body clock readjustment time. It doesn’t stop me getting fidgety however if the light looks amazing, and the day is going by :-)<br />
<br />
It was Sunday however, and for Jan a rare Sunday off, so whatever! The weather forecast was for brightness, light cloud, zero chance of rain and plenty of sunshine later. We could do a lazy leisurely hill walk later with no worries about the elements or timings. I didn’t really absorb the additional information I skimmed through on the mountain weather forecast though, which indicated freezing level at summits and 45mph winds. Nevertheless we threw in our Paramo’s and Rab wind proofs just in case, along with two flasks of steaming hot coffee.<br />
<br />
At about 2pm we started the one hour drive towards the distinctive pyramid shaped mountain called Cnicht. I haven’t done it for couple of years and I love the mountain (approximately 2200 feet). I have done it from the very meandrous North side and also from the shadowy East facing quarry valley of Cwm Orthin, which was today’s plan as I wanted to show Jan the old quarry workings. However, as part of her prep for some bigger mountains in the next few weeks she said she’d prefer a steep ascent, so we headed for Croesor on the brighter West side instead. This was a first for me too which was nice, making our way up the classic West ridge.<br />
<br />
We decided to have a cuppa and a sandwich in the cafe in the tiny, sleepy hamlet of Croesor but the cafe was so asleep it was closed! I was really surprised, this being the Easter break and a car park packed with walkers’ vehicles. We started up the long, bouldery woodland track before exiting right up towards
    GD001735.jpg
  • As is the way with my days off these days, there is no rush ever. Jan works long days and even longer nights in an intensive care department and there is NO shift pattern at all to allow a person’s body clock to plan the week. Her need for sleep catch up is vital, so I have learned not to expect a 7am leap out of bed, and instead to respect her body clock readjustment time. It doesn’t stop me getting fidgety however if the light looks amazing, and the day is going by :-)<br />
<br />
It was Sunday however, and for Jan a rare Sunday off, so whatever! The weather forecast was for brightness, light cloud, zero chance of rain and plenty of sunshine later. We could do a lazy leisurely hill walk later with no worries about the elements or timings. I didn’t really absorb the additional information I skimmed through on the mountain weather forecast though, which indicated freezing level at summits and 45mph winds. Nevertheless we threw in our Paramo’s and Rab wind proofs just in case, along with two flasks of steaming hot coffee.<br />
<br />
At about 2pm we started the one hour drive towards the distinctive pyramid shaped mountain called Cnicht. I haven’t done it for couple of years and I love the mountain (approximately 2200 feet). I have done it from the very meandrous North side and also from the shadowy East facing quarry valley of Cwm Orthin, which was today’s plan as I wanted to show Jan the old quarry workings. However, as part of her prep for some bigger mountains in the next few weeks she said she’d prefer a steep ascent, so we headed for Croesor on the brighter West side instead. This was a first for me too which was nice, making our way up the classic West ridge.<br />
<br />
We decided to have a cuppa and a sandwich in the cafe in the tiny, sleepy hamlet of Croesor but the cafe was so asleep it was closed! I was really surprised, this being the Easter break and a car park packed with walkers’ vehicles. We started up the long, bouldery woodland track before exiting right up towards
    GD001734.jpg
  • As is the way with my days off these days, there is no rush ever. Jan works long days and even longer nights in an intensive care department and there is NO shift pattern at all to allow a person’s body clock to plan the week. Her need for sleep catch up is vital, so I have learned not to expect a 7am leap out of bed, and instead to respect her body clock readjustment time. It doesn’t stop me getting fidgety however if the light looks amazing, and the day is going by :-)<br />
<br />
It was Sunday however, and for Jan a rare Sunday off, so whatever! The weather forecast was for brightness, light cloud, zero chance of rain and plenty of sunshine later. We could do a lazy leisurely hill walk later with no worries about the elements or timings. I didn’t really absorb the additional information I skimmed through on the mountain weather forecast though, which indicated freezing level at summits and 45mph winds. Nevertheless we threw in our Paramo’s and Rab wind proofs just in case, along with two flasks of steaming hot coffee.<br />
<br />
At about 2pm we started the one hour drive towards the distinctive pyramid shaped mountain called Cnicht. I haven’t done it for couple of years and I love the mountain (approximately 2200 feet). I have done it from the very meandrous North side and also from the shadowy East facing quarry valley of Cwm Orthin, which was today’s plan as I wanted to show Jan the old quarry workings. However, as part of her prep for some bigger mountains in the next few weeks she said she’d prefer a steep ascent, so we headed for Croesor on the brighter West side instead. This was a first for me too which was nice, making our way up the classic West ridge.<br />
<br />
We decided to have a cuppa and a sandwich in the cafe in the tiny, sleepy hamlet of Croesor but the cafe was so asleep it was closed! I was really surprised, this being the Easter break and a car park packed with walkers’ vehicles. We started up the long, bouldery woodland track before exiting right up towards
    GD001733.jpg
  • A large and constant river flows from open farmland on Anglesey, past Aberffraw village and out to the sea at the expansive and sandy Aberffraw beach. The wind blowing up the beach creates small standing waves in the river as it rushes against the wind.
    GD000495.jpg
  • A Boxing day walk, alone, in the weather and the howling winds. Amazing, elemental, the antithesis to Christmas, natural, wild, empty, unpackaged. I stood three times in the middle of a semi-drowned estuary, sheltering behind my huge (braced) umbrella whilst squalls pounded the nylon and winds flipped the edges of the material like a machine gun. So noisy was the wind that it was hard to tell whether the rain had stopped! I headed for the dunes and a brief few moments of sunshine trying to break through the cloud cover, but soon it was dark, and I had to meander my way back across the dunes to the car park, tripping frequently over rabbit holes and clumps of thick grass.
    GD001358.jpg
  • What a difference a season makes. In the summer this beach is busy with tourists, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding on the water; families eating fish & chips on the sea front and dozens of walkers perambulating along the seafront, but in Winter, it feels vast, empty and exposed. The full force of the wind howls onto this beach from the Irish Sea and the mountains behind seem darker, higher and more ominous. The ancient hill fort s gradually being eroded away, now less than half the size of the original, and hardly surprising when you watch the waves relentless attacking the base.   <br />
<br />
The wind was so strong that the sea became a conveyer of fast, foamy white waves that pushed far up the beach on every landfall. My feet got soaked as the water wrapped around my legs time after time but it was all part of the amazing experience of feeling connected to winter as much as the landscape itself.
    GD002385.jpg
  • A large and constant river flows from open farmland on Anglesey, past Aberffraw village and out to the sea at the expansive and sandy Aberffraw beach. The wind blowing up the beach creates small standing waves in the river as it rushes against the wind.
    GD000489.jpg
  • A Boxing day walk, alone, in the weather and the howling winds. Amazing, elemental, the antithesis to Christmas, natural, wild, empty, unpackaged. I stood three times in the middle of a semi-drowned estuary, sheltering behind my huge (braced) umbrella whilst squalls pounded the nylon and winds flipped the edges of the material like a machine gun. So noisy was the wind that it was hard to tell whether the rain had stopped! I headed for the dunes and a brief few moments of sunshine trying to break through the cloud cover, but soon it was dark, and I had to meander my way back across the dunes to the car park, tripping frequently over rabbit holes and clumps of thick grass.
    GD001359.jpg
  • 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
  • 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
  • “We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men; but it never occurred to me until this storm-day, while swinging in the wind, that trees are travellers, in the ordinary sense. They make many journeys, not extensive ones, it is true; but our own little journeys, away and back again, are only little more than tree-waving’s, many of them not so much.”<br />
<br />
From: ‘The Mountains of California’ by John Muir, New York. The Century Co. (1894). Chapter 10, ‘A Wind Storm in the Forests’
    In The Canopy
  • Nominated image in the 13th Black & White Spider Awards 2018<br />
<br />
An old tree appears contorted and tired. It sags under the weight of years of observation of time and events. Its smooth silver bark still reflects light even on a dull day and it continues to hold an attraction.<br />
<br />
A lithe woman connected with its old arms, which supported her as she suspended herself. Her young figure curved to echo the old, as one, though she had witnessed so little in comparison. Her body stretched, her spine felt good and her shoulders strong.<br />
<br />
As the wind blew, the tree creaked and the leaves rustled. Almost imperceptibly she started to move with the wind, gently swinging back and forth in the breeze. She was a brief beauty that would soon fall to the earth but in the meantime she was as magical as the tree itself, two very different lives as one.
    The Copse
  • A Boxing day walk, alone, in the weather and the howling winds. Amazing, elemental, the antithesis to Christmas, natural, wild, empty, unpackaged. I stood three times in the middle of a semi-drowned estuary, sheltering behind my huge (braced) umbrella whilst squalls pounded the nylon and winds flipped the edges of the material like a machine gun. So noisy was the wind that it was hard to tell whether the rain had stopped! I headed for the dunes and a brief few moments of sunshine trying to break through the cloud cover, but soon it was dark, and I had to meander my way back across the dunes to the car park, tripping frequently over rabbit holes and clumps of thick grass.
    GD001360.jpg
  • This was taken during a two hour outing to Anglesey's West Coast one Sundaty afternoon during serious gales and stormy weather. The seas were huge for Anglesey and were breaking over the clifs, the strong winds sending plumes of spray into the air and dousing the land with salty foam. As the sun dropped in the sky, the light became more and more intense until it created a theatrical floodlight, backlighting the spray from the crashing waves. The wind was blowing so hard I had to almost sit on the tripod to keep it steady and the lens needed wiping down every few seconds. It was fantastic to ne in these conditions alone on the cliff top because it generated an enormous sense of scale and vulnerability whilst perched there. At this time of year, when the sun setsm, the light diminishes rapidly so I had to tread careful over the wet cliff tops to get back to the van. It was an invigorating evening.
    GD000849.jpg
  • We decided to ignore the warnings not to drive during Storm Ciara, and headed for the sea. The narrow coastal roads were covered in seaweed and pebbles but high up above the cliffs of South Stack we only had the gale force winds to contend with. I left Jani warm in the van and fought my way down to the cliff edge, thankfully the wind blew me onshore not off! On arrival the skies were dark and gloomy but as I set up the tripod, sunlight burst through a break in the clouds and illuminated the short grasses clinging to the siltstone & quartzite rocks around me. <br />
<br />
I had to lean hard onto the tripod just to try and keep the camera still enough to make the shot. Even then I decided on a higher ISO for safety. Almost as soon as the sun warmed my wind-blown face, it disappeared and I was blown uphill back to the van!
    GD002436.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
  • Welsh mountain sheep pens lie desolate in the bitter winds and snow and there was silence all around save for the wind through the cold stone walls. In the summer there is no such solitude, and the sounds of the sheep return with the sounds of walkers.
    GD001136.jpg
  • Welsh mountain sheep pens lie desolate in the bitter winds and snow and there was silence all around save for the wind through the cold stone walls. In the summer there is no such solitude, and the sounds of the sheep return with the sounds of walkers.
    GD001137.jpg
  • 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
  • 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.
    GD000801.jpg
  • On her stone pulpit in the middle of vast open moorland stood a proud woman, her long hair blowing in the wind. It was as if she were addressing a crowd but she held her hands before her, covering her womanhood. I loved the contradiction. She became aware that I was watching and so as not to to cause her any awkwardness I started to walk away. She glanced at me for a few moments, studying me, before turning her head back towards the dark clouds now sweeping in from the sea.
    Studied
  • Sunset from the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) before spending the night sleeping on the café floor whilst on a commercial shoot for a client.<br />
<br />
The light was simply spectacular, with warm colours that belied the cold we felt due to the ‘wind-chill’ factor of gale force winds. We were greeted the next morning with thick cloud and bitterly cold drizzle so the evening light really was a magic moment.
    GD001746.jpg
  • Christmas Day 2011 - instead of pigging out on Christmas dinners and excesses of booze, I did a two hour cliff walk on North Anglesey, and battled with massive buffeting gusts of wind blowing off the Irish Sea, and sea spray sweeping over the headlands. I found a partly sheltered cove in which to eat cheese sarnies and a mince pie, washed down with hot coffee. Amazingly the rain held off for the whole walk which was fortunate but I also saw some of the only glimpses of sunshine in North Wales that day, which backlit the huge seas crashing against the Anglesey cliffs.
    GD001362.jpg
  • Nominated in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Fine Art category) <br />
<br />
Caught in squally weather, bitterly cold, blown about like a leaf in the wind, at the mercy of the elements and the huge expanse of the open sea - no, not a lonely sailing boat but me, clinging to the cliffs to try and get a shot at that magical moment, when man made and ambient light balance, that perfect window of opportunity which lasts just minutes. I love the softness of colours and contrasts in the gale driven sky behind, and the hint of comfort from the haunted lighthouse. I thought this was a joke until tonight, when as I was taking my last frame something pushed past me, really squeezing past my thigh. I honestly thought it was a dog but there was nothing there. Quite spooked.<br />
<br />
South Stack lighthouse, Holy Island, Anglesey, Ynys Môn. c1809 - Electrified in 1938 - Automated in 1984. 440 steps lead from the 200ft cliff top down to the bridge across the gorge below. We can also see here the RSPB Bird watching tower called Ellin's Tower.
    GD001064.jpg
  • A wind-blown walk across the cliff tops towards Land’s End. 42mph gusts from the East tried to force us over the cliff edge but wonderfully, as we descended the cliff tops a little, the wind was hardly noticeable and we sat there soaking up the warmth and watched the Choughs soar and dive beyond us into the void. <br />
<br />
Here the distinctive shape of the Irish Lady stack was beautifully silhouetted along with the cliffs of Land’s End in the background.
    GD002525.jpg
  • The wind was blowing in from the west and with it came drizzle. The lake was vast and waves fetched from the persistent breeze. The reeds rustled as they bent in the gusts towards the figure of a beautiful young woman.<br />
<br />
I stood in the darkness of the forest edge, watching nature move all about me. The boughs of the trees creaking, twigs snapping against each other and even the sound of the tiny surf crashing on the lakeshore. The woman seemed to be the only motionless object in this blustery, dull weather.
    At The Lake Side
  • 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
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Glyn Davies, Professional Photographer and Gallery

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