It was the winter solstice, and with the weather forecast promising broken cloud in the pre-dawn morning hours it was an ideal opportunity for me to tick off one of my 'bucket list' time lapse shoots.
The shoot in question was to be sunrise over the famous 'Lonely Tree', the most photographed tree in Wales, located in the dramatic setting of the Snowdonia National Park at Llanberis, just off the shores of Llyn Padarn on its own tiny little island.
But why the winter solstice?
Well at 53°N, the sunrise in winter here occurs to the southeast, which is directly in line with the lake and with the pass of Llanberis as it snakes past the high peaks of Snowdon to the south and the Glyderau range to the north, so should provide some spectacular dawn lighting at this time of year, with the Lonely Tree in the foreground.
But when I arrived at Llyn Padarn, three hours before sunrise, due at 8.30am, hoping to start my time lapse with a view of stars wheeling overhead through those promised gaps in the clouds, I was greeted by a completely overcast sky, with no sign of those forecast breaks!
But I hadn't driven all this way from my home near Mold in northeast Wales to just give up, so I set up my camera and tripod, together with all the other equipment needed to shoot time lapse in the damp, cold conditions, and set off shooting a frame every ten seconds.
Three hours later at sunrise and there were still no breaks in the clouds, and no sign of any sunlight breaking through the wrack, but at least the clouds had taken on some form and texture, so I was hopeful that my efforts had not been in vain and that the processed time lapse would show some interesting cloud movements at least.
And so it proved to be, with this rather pleasing, if somewhat bleak and wintery, time lapse at the culmination of my efforts.
And I've got a great excuse to keep an eye on the winter weather and head back again next time there's a chance of a dramatic sunrise over the Lonely Tree.
Filename - llyn padarn timelapse 17
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 8 secs @ f/4, ISO3200
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/25 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Filters - None.
Shooting interval - 10 seconds
Music - Bach Cello Suite No. 1, G Major, Prelude - Cooper Cannell.
Location - Llanberis, Snowdonia, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 23 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.