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  • Tantalisingly close, legally impossible but the lure of the mountains is powerful and emotional - they are a siren calling through the breeze. That’s all, a ten minute breeze seperating me from my spiritual sanctuary.
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  • 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 />
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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 />
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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.
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  • 3 Edition A1 - 5 Edition A2<br />
(First two A1s SOLD, one remaining)<br />
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In brief glimpses through thick fog and heavy cloud, stunning recessional hills appeared, illuminated by subtle rays of weak afternoon sunshine, beautiful. In the far distance is Elidir Fawr, then the rounded peak of Mynydd Mawr, and finally the lower peaks of the Nantlle Ridge.<br />
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Views from the peaks of Tre'r Ceiri, an  Iron Age settlement / fortress steeped in Brythonic history of kings and tribes from the Dark Ages on Snowdonia's Llyn Peninsula. <br />
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Clouds and fog swirl around these peaks but when the fog clears, stunning views are to be had of the surrounding countryside. This place is ethereal, spiritual and always changing. The sense of past is strong and the identity with people living on this Iron Age hill top since the dark ages is potent.
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  • Another evening walk into the mountains to catch the dramatic, changeable light. As so often happens though, clouds came down across the evening sun and over the summits. I sat there drinking coffee in what became a waiting game and then suddenly, a pulse of sunshine illuminated the hillsides of the Glyderau mountains, silhouetting the foreground peaks and creating a drama I liked even if it was not what I’d originally envisaged.
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  • I left the valley in beautiful warm evening sunshine but by the time I reached the summit it was shrouded in dense, fast-swirling and cold hill fog. I shivered as I sat in the lee of the summit cairn but when the sun burst through I was bathed in warmth and mesmerised by the rapidly unfurling mountain views beyond me. The conditions lasted maybe an hour before the temperatures balanced out and the cloud dispersed leaving totally clear views. I can't help but be impressed by the constantly changing ethereal qualities of the Welsh light and weather.
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  • From below, surrounded by hundreds of sledgers & skiers creating a cacophony of noisy laughs & screams, the summits were in swirling low cloud, never showing themselves. <br />
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As I trudged higher the snow became thicker and the chaos of the crowds diminished. I followed deep snowy footprints & drops of bright red blood from an injured dog, marking the route of previous ascensionists. The snow dumbs sounds; no birds sang, or sheep bleated. I could hear my own heart as the silence & snow deepened more. <br />
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I was surprised nevertheless by the numbers of small parties descending the hill, and I was troubled (as always) that I was being trailed by others, a super fit elderly couple with a tiny day sack, and a backpacking single guy. I stopped for a drink to let them pass and I watched them disappear into the thick fog. Finally, I was alone, and I laboured step by step in deep snow until I arrived at the summit. I could hear occasional walkers chatting in the whiteout, but none appeared alongside me. It was dark up there, and the strengthening wind chilled my fingers through my gloves. I sensed something was happening with the clouds though so persevered in my wait. For about ten minutes the sun made regular bursts through the low cloud, illuminating snow-crusted rock sculptures all around me. It transformed the scene completely & I felt less lonely somehow. <br />
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The horizon darkened and I could see snow clouds approaching. It was getting colder and colder, so I called it a day and retraced my footsteps back down to cloud base. Sleet and then heavy rain pelted me about five minutes from the van. Dozens and dozens of soaked sledging families made a sad retreat off the slopes.  I was delighted with the ten or so images that I made on the summit. I think will make some beautiful prints for the gallery wall.
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  • Had no idea that a huge sea of cloud would be building as I summited Garnedd Elidir, but it was such an incredible surprise benefit of this last minute evening walk into the hills. <br />
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Though Yr Wyddfa was packed with 1000s of visitors ever day this week, I was completely alone on my summit and was therefore able to let my mind float at cloud height with all this sumptuous vapour. It’s precious enough being alone on the hill tops, but being presented with such spectacular weather phenomenon is such a heightened privilege. <br />
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Strangely, as I left my perch and headed down the scree slopes, the inversion faded, as if it was purely there for me, at a time when I needed it.
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  • On the summit in dark swirling cloud. A delicate sun glimmered through the vapour, illuminating shards of quartz-covered, shattered wet rock.<br />
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I was alone on the summit and it helped create the feeling that this pictorial wonder was my privilege alon
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  • After an unpromising start on a cold grey day, and my hip playing up for the first time in a year, serene sunlight glowed underneath the swirling low cloud shrouding the summits.<br />
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It’s moments like this that make my day, that lify my spirits and paint away the anxiety and anger over the stupidity of human kind. I need the solace that the hills offer those who seek it. I love the solitude as it’s further escape from the nonsense that is current society. Thankfull I didn’t see many fellow walkers, and those I did, bar four, were the grumpiest sods. They never ackowldeged me or my warm greeting, choosing instead to pretend I didn’t exist. Sign of the times. The mountains however welcomed me glady as always, and I felt part of them and utterly connected to them and the elements.
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  • It was dreamlike, and I was alone in my dreams. The clouds rose and fell like waves on the ocean, one minute revealing the peaks the next shrouding them. A bitterly cold North Westerly blew the swirling vapours at speed across the slopes, chilling me noticeably at the same time. The scenes changed so quickly that it was hard to believe I was in the same place. I was in awe and utterly captivated by the sheer scale and drama of the situation and it was hard to leave the summit, until the sun went down that is, and the wind dropped and a freezing clammy air enveloped me.
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  • Last minute blast for a walk and some snaps after yet another dreary June day. Hints of sunshine broke through blankets of mountain cloud so we went for a coastal walk along the Strait. The clouds opened more and more and pools of sunlight illuminated the hillsides. For just a brief moment, literally seconds, the sunset flood lit Castell Penrhyn in the foreground. The castle was built by Lord Penrhyn, from the profits of the slate industry. Impoverished slate quarry workers worked in horrendous, dangerous conditions to facilitate this.
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  • Another momentary wonder of light and land, as Carnedd Dafydd captures a rare sunbeam during a dreary, damp evening. Standing on the bank of the Afon Menai was beautiful for it’s sounds, tiny waves slapping pebbles on the shoreline; two Oystercatchers pile-driving the shell-strewn mudflats for rich food on the outgoing tide, and a Curlew calling as it skimmed the sea surface towards Y Felinheli but the light, was dull as dishwater. I was about o head back fro the van when a glimmer of light appeared over the Eryri hills, and within a few seconds a huge beam of sunlight scanned the peaks, illuminating the details and textures with such clarity. I shot just five frames before the sun disappeared completely and drops of rain touched my face.
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  • It was so strange, but in the whiteout the only structure that stood out on these open, snowy mountain-tops was this long dry stone wall with a stile. When you peaked over the top there was literally nothing else to see, just snow and no horizon, no view at all, unless white fog is a view anyway. I started smiling about its ambiguity in these surreal conditions.
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  • On the summit in dark swirling cloud. A delicate sun glimmered through the vapour, illuminating shards of quartz-covered, shattered wet rock. <br />
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I was alone on the summit and it helped create the feeling that this pictorial wonder was my privilege alone.
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  • Shot from the summit of Gyrn towards a phenomenal sunset over the Llyn Peninsula. The high hills to our left never really received much light so remained a cold grey blue all afternoon. Today I was alone again, and happy. A group of mountaineering students looked as if they would head for this summit but then they turned and headed into invisibility. The wind was severe and bitterly cold but it was worth being on the hill tops for light such as this.
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  • Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) which is a stone built Victorian suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and Bangor and mainland of Wales. The 100ft high bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826.
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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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  • Rolling moorland slopes of Bwlch Mawr on the Llyn peninsula in North Wales
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  • View from the summit of Garn Ganol (Yr Eifl) the highest point on the Llyn Peninsula, looking across the rural farmland through low lying clouds and hill fog  in showery weather
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  • Nominated in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Nature category)<br />
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Deep sunset though stormy weather cloud conditions over the Irish Sea, seen from the slopes of Mynydd Mawr mountain in Snowdonia
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  • According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be bright sunshine this afternoon - thankfully it wasn’t, and I was gifted with incredible dramatic light over the Llyn Peninsula.
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  • Years ago, the Iron Age settlers at nearby Tre’r Ceiri enclosed a hill top, using stone walls for their huts and livestock pens. Some 2,000 years later, farmers are still building walls across windswept, wild areas to retain their livestock. In so many ways we have advanced by leaps and bounds, but the basic requirements for farming and the rearing of domesticated animals persist regardless.
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  • Isn’t the planet just magnificent! From mountains of sand to mountains of rock, Earth’s natural processes are just incredible, and what they create are beautiful.
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  • Two Welsh Blacks contrast sharply against the lush green of the Welsh hillside, whilst a huge white cow disguises itself as a large fluffy sheep to access their pasture :-)
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • Before another traumatic Welsh lockdown, we decided last minute on an afternoon walk up to Penygadair.
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  • Amongst old field patterns on these ancient Welsh hills of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, lie even older patterns, of hut circles not easily visible from ground level. This hill is Moel Pen Llechog but all the hills around here were heavily populated (comparatively) byt ancient tribes from Bronze Age to Iron Age and even medieval times.
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  • 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.
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  • The Iron Age hill-fort of Tre’r Ceiri hugs the nearby hill top, as seen from Yr Eifl, with Harlech and Cardigan Bay in the background.
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  • I was feeling ill today, man flu, but the light was so tempting outside that I decided to go for a walk anyway and drove towards the light, Llanddwyn Island. Experienced hailstorms and heavy showers but had the chance to try out my new Slazenger Golf Brolly :-) Ended up alone on the island and made the most of blasts of good light before making my way back to van alone in the dusk.<br />
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© Glyn Davies - All rights reserved.
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  • The most incredible skies just before torrential rain on a deserted beach. I had my brolly at the ready and continued to shoot even as the rain started. Love being immersed in nature ike this.
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  • Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) which is a stone built Victorian suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and Bangor and mainland of Wales. The 100ft high bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826. Here the floodlit bridge spanning the Menai Strait is backed by snow covered Welsh mountains of Snowdonia
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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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  • Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) - 1,085 m (3,560 ft), the highest mountain in Wales, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. With a café at it's summit, it's also the highest café in the UK. A railway takes some visitors to the summit.
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  • Normally I avoid taking pictures of the mountains when they only have light patchy snow, as I always think it looks 'messy' but this evening, in the last of the sunlight before dusk, there was something subtly beautiful about it all, so I relented and made an image before a very muddy, squelchy, flooded walk home.
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  • Nominated in 10th (2017) International Colour Awards (Nature category)<br />
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Deep sunset though stormy weather cloud conditions over the Irish Sea, seen from the slopes of Mynydd Mawr mountain in Snowdonia
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  • It is said that the distinctive breast-shaped hillside of Mynydd Carnguwch is sometimes aptly referred to as Bron y Ferch (The Girl’s Breast). It was over these hillsides, years ago, that men from the village would have had to walk for many miles to fetch supplies from the nearest towns, bringing everything back by hand.
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  • On a walk where I sank in soft mud; a walk where BOTH soles came off my walking boots; where I simply couldn’t find what I’ve been hunting for over several years now, I nevertheless felt awed by the sheer beauty of this mirrored universe - what a truly amazing place to live
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  • After weeks of lockdown in South Africa, where we were not even allowed to leave the front gate except to get food, it has been a mental overdose of freedom to do something as simple as a little walk around our local town. We are luckier than some, in that at least we have the Menai Strait nearby, and fields to walk through. It’s liberating and uplifting and what I took for granted in the past now seems mesmerisingly beautiful, even when the light wasn’t perfect like today. Freedom is everything, and anyone who thinks prison is easy because they have TV and a pool table, clearly haven’t been self isolating properly, let alone experienced proper lockdown even in their own homes. No matter how big your TV or how many films you have to watch or books you have to read, when you are told you can't leave your from gate your own home becomes a prison and there suddenly becomes a desperate need to get outside! Prison is a mental killer
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  • Dark sunset over the Irish Sea, obscured by layer after layer of swirling, bitter cloud. The red burn on the horizon was subdued by vapour in the air.
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  • Amongst old field patterns on these ancient Welsh hills of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, lie even older patterns, of hut circles not easily visible from ground level. This hill is Moel Pen Llechog but all the hills around here were heavily populated (comparatively) byt ancient tribes from Bronze Age to Iron Age and even medieval times.
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  • Beyond the illusory warmth of foreground moors, stood the frozen twin peaks of Arenig Fawr, briefly illuminated by moments of temperamental winter sunlight.<br />
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I was lured by the mountain’s wonderful structure and ancient beauty, but the buffeting gale was biting into my face so on this day at least, I was glad not to have been on the icy summits.
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  • Snowy hillsides of the beautiful Eldir Fach mountain in Snowdonia. Just beyond this hillside lies the Marchlyn Mawr HEP reservoir serving the power station below.
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  • The largest iron age settlement / fortress in Britain, Tre'r Ceiri covers the top of a high Welsh mountain, so high that clouds often pass lower than the summit as here. The highest peak on this peninsula hides behind the mist in the background.
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  • Glimpses of sunshine - patches of fast-moving light scudding across the striking ridges of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and its foothills. First warm rays - an ultraviolet shower between snow-clad peaks. Perfect company and amongst this theatrical majesty, a young woman’s first illuminating and exhilarating ascent of a Welsh mountain
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  • Don’t usually mess around with PhotoShop, preferring to keep things as natural as I remember, but in this case I just felt it was a lovely pair for my old shot, “Reflecting on Past Times”
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  • What a fabulous example of a Brocken Spectre this evening, beamed onto the gorgeously curved foothills of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) - I thought I was totally alone on the mountain but clearly I was not :-)
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  • In the approaching dark of heavy rain clouds and a biting cold wind, the beautiful and enticing ridge-walk from Pen yr Helgi Du received an unexpected burst of sunlight along its length.<br />
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We debated all the way to its steep northern ascent, but then the heavens opened and we realised we had been very wise to ignore the siren’s call as we headed down to the dark lake in torrential, skin-soaking rain. Even the Gore-Tex rainwear failed in these conditions and we still only just made the van before complete darkness.<br />
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What has always struck me when looking at this photograph, is just how skin-like the hillside appears, like the hide of a huge animal. When you think of just how thin the ‘living surface’ above mountains of solid rock actually is then, effectively, it is just a ‘skin’ which will be affected by the weather and which will change appearance and colour constantly over time.
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  • The immesely popular and beautiful Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia looks far more hostile in the depth of winter, when the normally shimmering surface of Llyn Idwal lake is deceptively soft and pristine under an icy cover, disgusing it's black depths.
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  • The last embers of a burning sunset caught the gable ends of the hillside town of Groeslon on the hillside below the imposing Nantlle Ridge. The clouds were on fire, billowing and swirling, hiding and revealing the majestic hills behind. <br />
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And then within perhaps a minute, a huge fire blanket of cloud on the horizon suffocated the intense flames, and the colours were gone for the night.
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  • The first monument before you reach Meini Hirion, (meaning long stones) which are known in English as Druid's Circle.<br />
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This is a prehistoric monument on the hilltop above Penmaenmawr, North Wales. A 1958-9 excavation revealed two three sided cists, (stone slabs placed on end forming a cavity). Each contained a cremation burial, which in one case was sealed by a layer of quartz pebbles. Other finds within this “disturbed circle” were an oval hearth on which flat stones had been placed as if to extinguish the fire; a circular fire pit full of charcoal and a Graiglwyd stone axe. The site has been dated as being as being 1130-145 B.C.
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  • After more than an hour on the freezing summit, I slowly made my way down in deep snow, each leg sinking in to thigh level! I crouched in the snow whilst bitter winds ripped my face, waiting for a promised light to change the whole character of the atmosphere surrounding Wales highest mountain. I never quite saw the summit itself but the light did produce a beauty that was awe-inspiring
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  • 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.
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  • Snow & ice cover the ridges of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest peak.
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  • Fairy Ring of red Amanita muscaria toadstool mushrooms next to the Aber river in the hills up behind the high Rhaeadr Aber waterfall.
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  • On every horizon, there was walled-cloud, kept low by a huge temperature inversion and yet, from here on the slopes of Garnedd Elidir there was good clarity. One solitary cloud gradually appeared over western Ynys Môn but almost as soon it formed it started to spread southward to join a sea of cloud over the Nantlle Ridge. I was alone on the hill and there was such wonderful silence.
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  • 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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  • An overcast and windless day in Snowdonia last week but the rich Autumnal colours glowed beautifully in the near mirror-like surface of the mountain lake. Reflections in lakes are such a cliché so forgive me, I was just rather taken with the scene anyway and couldn't help jumping out of the van to make this image.
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  • A fleeting burst of light during an overcast, mizzly day in the Welsh mountains.  The light glowed briefly over Llyn Peris before skipping at speed over the levels of the disused Dinorwic slate quarries and then disappearing altogether.<br />
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It’s strange studying these old industrial workings, where men blasted away half a mountainside around half a century ago, but then seeing so many people using the quarried levels for climbing, walking, mountain biking and general sight-seeing. In a way it’s a really positive thing that so much fun has come out of so much destruction, and hardship for the quarrymen of old.
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  • These rolling foothills form part of the Snowdon Massif but each have their own names, and are affectionately known collectively, as the 'roller coaster' by local hill walkers.
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  • A spontaneous fast evening hike up to the summit of Elidir Fawr, grabbing the last of the sunshine before the torrential rain promised for the following day.<br />
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It was clear that the weather was already changing, dark clouds swirling around the peaks, but side-lit by striking evening sunlight. Though July, my hands were really cold in the strong gusting breeze. <br />
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I didn’t see a soul anywhere on the mountain so I was able to revel in the dramatic elemental conditions surrounding me, perfect and humbling solitude that freaks me as much as it excites me.
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  • Clinging to the edge of a cold mountain slope, stand the remains of a once thriving but dangerous slate quarrying industry. Tonight though, it was quiet, calm and tranquil, only the gentlest of winds blowing up the valley. Apart from the sound of ravens it seems a huge change from what once was. Even the train was silent in the thick winter snow.
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  • Evening sunlight over 'Gyrn' and Moel Wnion in the lower Carneddau mountains.
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  • 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 />
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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.
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  • In the darkest of times, needles of sunlight pierce blankets of blue winter, illuminating theatrical interplays on the earth below. Tiny little figures show the enormous scale of this mountainous stage,. You don't see these wondrous moments until they are floodlit by the universe above.
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  • Yr Elen looking magnificent and imposing in the winter vapours. In the summer it’s just an interesting bump preceding the bigger summit of Carnedd Llewelyn behind, but in these conditions it looked like a sunlit stairway to a snowy heaven. <br />
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Over the last few years I have consciously avoided the snow, and hated the idea of going into cold, knackering snow blanketed mountains, but this year I’ve thoroughly enjoyed safe ventures into the low foothills from where I can observe the big peaks. This looks positively alpine but I was only on a low hill, zooming in on the bigger peaks with my telephoto lenses. It was a sense of being a part of it all without facing any real danger. I think next winter, post pandemic, I will be grabbing a mountaineering buddy and heading into the bigger peaks, that’s for sure.
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  • Under a blanket of  Welsh grey sky, five Welsh Blacks graze in a line of lush-green, whilst a small white Welsh cottage provides scale, contrast and control.
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  • Imposing and precipitous, dark towers of mountainside were temporarily bathed in gentle afternoon light, warming the cold ramparts and illuminating their weakness. We so need light these days.
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  • No this isn’t filtered, this was shot in torrential rain that was back-lit by intense evening sunshine setting over the Irish Sea. I’d been checking out the climbing routes in the Dinorwic Quarries, waiting for the sun to come out from banks of heavy cloud, when I noticed a glow on the crags behind me. I rounded the corner and the sky was on fire. A first few drops of rain dappled the slate slabs around me so I hurried to the edge of the levels and rapidly set up my camera before the heavens opened up on top of me. I grabbed perhaps 10 frames in total as the sheets of rain moved across the hillsides. I also saw and managed to grab a shot of a most glorious rainbow behind me.
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  • Just after the fleeting dramatic light a few minutes earlier, bursting through the mizzly blanket above the Welsh hills, a delicate ghostly vapour now enshrouded the deserted quarrymen’s huts high up in the Dinorwic slate quarries.<br />
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It’s strange studying these old industrial workings, where men blasted away half a mountainside around half a century ago, but I’m also grateful that we have access to this place, and an opportunity to stand and reflect on our history and a way of life long gone, in this country at least. If we don’t consider the past, how can we possibly learn how to go forwards?
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  • The peak of Yr Elen in the Carneddau range, Snowdonia, covered in shadows of passing cumulus clouds.
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  • A warm but dreary Autumn day in the Carneddau hills of Snowdonia, looking towards Y Braich from Carnedd Llewelyn. The reservoir Ffynnon Llugwy reflects some of the low light of the afternoon
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  • Official and hard-wearing footpaths are needed on Wales' highest mountain, Snowdon, simply due to the vast numbers of walkers aiming for it's summit. Nevertheless the hillsides and surrounding peaks are always fantastic, despite the crowds.
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  • Fleeting patches of light caress the slopes of the ancient mountain of Cader Idris during squally winter weather. Clouds build and billow at speed above the peaks, in contrast to the dark shadows of the huge North facing cliffs.
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  • The huge & imposing massif of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest mountain. This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills. If it were not for my friend feeling frozen I would have braved another hour or so of just sitting and watching.
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  • The pointed peak of Pen yr Ole Wen, the first peak of the Carneddau range in Snowdonia, in evening sunlight, reflected in a slow moving, dark, river pool, flowing out of Cwm Idwal hanging valley down to the Ogwen Falls and the Nant Ffrancon pass .
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  • 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.
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  • SUN28 Shot Up North Awards winning entry (2016).<br />
<br />
International Color Awards 2016 - Nominee in "Nature" category<br />
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The huge & imposing massif of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Wales' highest mountain. This was taken following a last minute decision to slog up Mynydd Mawr under inclement weather but it resulted in just the most fantastic hour of weather-watching from it's summit. I was utterly gripped by the continual theatrical change of light being played out across the Snowdonia hills.
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  • One of 3 winning entries in the 29th SUN (Shot up North) Awards for full time professional photographers<br />
<br />
I had been looking back through some early work and was amazed at how much snow we had in the winter of 2006. Amongst the more natural-looking snowy mountain images I’d taken from the top of Moel Eilio was this one of the Dinorwig Quarries below Elidir Fawr. I was fascinated by the cool purity of the winter snow gently trying to smooth over the vast, ugly, man-made scarring of the mountain’s lower regions.<br />
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The image has almost literally been sliced in half – the softer, wild and windswept upper reaches, and the angular, fractured blackness of the quarries below. Of course, the quarries hold their own fascination in terms of human history, culture and tenacity, but sometimes it’s only from a distance that you realise just how much destruction has gone on. Equally, it’s almost comforting to know just how much beauty still does exist, even within areas that have been so exploited, as here in Llanberis.
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  • There’s a lot of truth in the suggestion that mountains can actually look far more majestic from below, than from the summits themselves. <br />
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It was a beautiful day today on Anglesey, blue sky & sunshine - photographically a little boring even if the sunshine warmed my heart. At the end of day however the colours began to change and the mountain clouds started to disperse. It was a game of patience and hope, hope that the last of the sunshine would synchronise with the summit of Yr Wyddfa appearing through the clouds. I was delighted to make two exposures where the magic happened.
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  • Second snows on the Welsh hills, and a dusted icing across the rounded lower peaks of the Nantlle area - as seen from Anglesey.
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  • This is the upper lake just below the summit of Elidir Fawr, which is streamed into huge pipes which feed the 4 turbines in the power station 500 meters below. The water is pumped back up at night when demand is low and pumping costs are least.
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  • This path paved with large slabs and stones has usually been referred to as the Roman Steps, but more recently it is believed this impressive path cutting a route through the often silent Rhinoggau Mountains is actually more likely a drovers path. You feel you are stepping in history regardless.
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  • The first day of the new year, the first day of the new decade! After a lazy start, relaxing in bed, drinking fresh coffee whilst sunshine poured through the window, we decided to make the most of the beautiful conditions and get a walk in. <br />
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We drove to the Great Orme to maximise exposure to the New Year’s sunshine and scrambled up through the limestone buttresses to reach the summit. The views back across to Snowdonia were stunning, the huge mountains just stopped at the sea and looked more reminiscent of some Greek islands than the Welsh coast. The sea was so calm and the tiny yacht making its way out of the Conwy estuary helped to describe just how huge and magnificent everything looked. <br />
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In terms of climate disaster and self-interested politics worldwide we are in such frightening times, but today’s conditions at the start of the new decade, infused us both with a small dose of happiness and positivity that I hope to God we can still find more of over the next few years.
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  • Never a fan of broken snow, it's usually an all or nothing for me, I was nevertheless highly humoured in my solitude, finding this huge numeral written in snow on the summit of Foel Goch, maths and nature, not always a such a great mix.
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  • In an abandoned quarry village, high up in the windswept mountains of Wales, sits a derelict old chapel with it's roof timbers now collapsing inwards but still pointing skywards. It is only the spirit of the workmen in this busy slate quarry that remains, the valley is silent and desolate.
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Glyn Davies, Professional Photographer and Gallery

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