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My interest in visiting Lake Vyrnwy, in the heart of Wales' Berwyn Mountains, was rooted in the fact that the area is a prime dark skies site, and I wanted to try out the low light capabilities of my new Canon 6D DSLR on some spectacular star photography.
In the end however, the Welsh weather did its usual thing, with a cold wind and 10/10ths cloud cover most of the afternoon and on into the night.
Not to mind though, as this was Liz's and my first visit to this area, and we were bowled over by just how beautiful this lake is, even in poor weather.
So more in hope than expectation I set up this shot of the whimsical Victorian water tower, and having taken a few uninspiring photos in flat grey light I was about to pack up and head off for a coffee when this solitary shaft of sunlight made it through a tiny hole in the clouds and started tracking across the surrounding hills towards the tower.
I held my breath as the small patch of light made its way uncertainly towards the tower, then WHAM, all of a sudden the tower and it's backing rocks were bathed in a shaft of glorious illumination.
I rapidly fired off three exposures as the light moved across the frame before the scene returned to grey, this being the best of the bunch, with the water tower at its brightest.
That was the only sunlight we saw that day, but all the more welcome for it's rarity.
Will we be coming back? No doubt.
Might even get those star photos sorted out as well!
Filename - lake vyrnwy 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 100-400mm zoom @ 275mm
Exposure - 1/40 sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Lake Vyrnwy, Wales
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - Lightroom
Comments - Tripod, mirror lock up and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
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