Tag: waterfalls

Thursday 4th June – Water, water everywhere.

Well it was our last day in Wales, so we thought we’d get out if we could, but showers were forecast, so we anticipated getting wet. Fortunately our cameras and lenses are water resistant so it was only us that were going to suffer.

To give Holly more of a rest I ventured out on my own leaving Vanessa dog sitting. It was a trip a few miles up the road to the Swallow waterfalls and I went solo as we weren’t sure Holly could get through the turnstile.


Quite an impressive waterfall and this view was only about 100 yards in from the turnstile and no steps involved. There were other view points, but this was the best one.

I returned to the motorhome to make some sandwiches and we headed out again (together this time) to walk alongside the Afon Llugwy river from Betws-y-Coed. We only walked about 3/4 mile (carrying Holly some of the way) and every time we got the camera out it started to rain again. I did manage a couple of river photos…

Now normally to blur the water I increase the time exposure by attaching a filter bracket to the front of the lens and inserting a Lee filter to reduce the light entering the lens. But as it was raining, this just meant more to keep dry.

Now the techy bit: So instead, I used one of the great features of the cameras we use (the OM System, OM1 mk2). There is a ‘Live Neutral Density’ filter which can reduce the light level recorded in the sensor by up to 64x in 6 steps and the quality isn’t affected. In the images above the first was 1.3 seconds and the other a 1/4 second (using a tripod of course). The camera also supports graduated filters (which reduce the light to a proportion of the image – e.g a bright sky with a shady foreground). This could in future allow me to reduce the weight of my camera bag.

Heading back to the carpark at Betws-y-Coed the rain has finally kept people away from rock clambering and selfies at the falls under the bridge, so I tried my luck again.

Whilst in waterfall mode, we headed back to Llyn Ogwen lake to locate another waterfall under the Pont Pen-y-benglog bridge. It involved a tricky descent in wet conditions to the viewpoint.

50 yards from the waterfall are these scenic views…

And that it for another trip – we hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with us.

Friday 29th May – Chasing the Light

We had a fairly adventurous day which started under cloud which was the perfect light for waterfall photography, so we headed off to the Conwy Falls. The entrance is controlled via a turnstile with an entrance fee of £2 per person. We then descended down into a gorge and finally a climb down some rocks to a point to photograph the waterfall.

I couldn’t carry Holly down the rocks safely, so Vanessa and I took turns to take the photos. Then I had the pleasurable challenge of carrying Holly back up to the top of the gorge to the café and some well earned lunch.

Back at the motorhome, the sun started to break through the clouds, so we headed off on foot to a nearby church for some more graveyard shots.

  • St Michael’s Old Church
  • St Michael’s Old Church
  • St Michael’s Old Church

The skies continued to clear so I planned to attempt 3 late evening photo shoots in 3 different locations. We had already visited the areas and I knew roughly where and when the sun would be in the evening. The first was a location I had seen on ‘LocationScout’ which involved a half-mile scramble up a mountain slope which I couldn’t manage with the dog, so Vanessa waited in the car whilst I went off for my short yomp. The evening light was now less harsh and more conducive to good pictures.

The mountain in the image is Tryfan which was also the first peak I ever climbed back in 1972. After this I returned to the car and we headed to the other end of the lake.

We were soon going to lose the foreground light, so timing wasn’t too bad. Then we had a 35 minute drive and a 10 minute walk back to the point looking along the Llanberis valley towards the Dolbadarn Castle.

Finally one last shot across the lake…

So we did manage to chase the light and get a few late evening photos in the sunshine.