Click on the image for licensing terms
The mountains in Snowdonia, North Wales, are subject to a wide range of weather conditions.
Situated near the west coast, these mountains catch all the weather fronts as they stream in from the Atlantic ocean, and at an altitude of up to one thousand metres this results in snow and ice for a goodly part of the year.
In between weather fronts we get the occasional ridge of winter high pressure, with clear skies and plunging temperatures. This is what I watch out for, ready to book a day's holiday from the factory where I work and head to the hills.
Such was the case this day, with sunrise finding myself plus son Andy halfway up Snowdon on the Miner's path in a winter wonderland of ice and snow.
We'd set off super early and completed the first part of the climb by head torch, with much scrambling on the ice covered paths and rocks. Around 8.20am the sun was just rising in a completely clear sky and splashing golden light over the high peaks as I spotted this frozen waterfall still just in shadow.
A race up a snow covered scree slope ensued, with me trying to get in a position to photograph the waterfall just as the sun hit it.
I made it just in time to get this photo, as the first of the suns's rays hit the ice, causing it to glow pink and yellow in a most beautiful fashion.
The effect lasted only a couple of minutes until the sun rose a bit further and the colour temperature of the light rose to 'standard' daylight.
We carried on up to the summit in dazzling light and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but it was that two or three minutes of golden light that made the early start more than worthwhile.
Filename - waterfall 27.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure - 1.6sec @ f16, ISO100
Location - Snowdon, Snowdonia
This image - 640x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Slow shutter speed used to blur movement. Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.